Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.71.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stephens dropped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

NYSE:KNX opened at $46.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 69.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 2.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.16 dividend. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is presently 95.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $112,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,836.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,706 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 96,842 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 8,238 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.6% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 391,491 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $21,540,000 after buying an additional 2,175 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 607,334 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $33,416,000 after buying an additional 15,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the first quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides freight transportation services in the United States and Mexico. The company operates through four segments: Truckload, Less-than-truckload (LTL), Logistics, and Intermodal. The Truckload segment provides transportation services, which include irregular route and dedicated, refrigerated, expedited, flatbed, and cross-border operations.