Raymond James Boosts Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Price Target to $58.00

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its price objective raised by Raymond James from $57.00 to $58.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a strong-buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

KNX has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.88.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of KNX stock opened at $51.82 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.20 and a 200-day moving average of $50.43. The company has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52 week low of $45.55 and a 52 week high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 0.88%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 156.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,422,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,294,210.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Michael Garnreiter sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.57, for a total transaction of $101,140.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $892,459.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,422,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,294,210.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,196 shares of company stock worth $4,367,869 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,021,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $865,977,000 after acquiring an additional 57,000 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 10.9% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,594,817 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $379,133,000 after acquiring an additional 744,412 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 27.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,431,299 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $271,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176,069 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 7.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,607,802 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $180,101,000 after acquiring an additional 235,858 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.6% in the second quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,637,206 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $81,729,000 after purchasing an additional 57,493 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.