MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,564 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,445 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $4,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 747 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3,461.9% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 900 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 168.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 50.7% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup cut Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.38.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

KNX opened at $59.36 on Monday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.55 and a 1 year high of $60.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 258.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.93.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 278.27%.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

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.