New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,884 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.12% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $10,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,201,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $221,541,000 after acquiring an additional 125,827 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,740,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $147,529,000 after purchasing an additional 46,436 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,412,869 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,224,000 after purchasing an additional 359,566 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter valued at approximately $70,185,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,337,737 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,171,000 after buying an additional 6,803 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $50.67 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a PE ratio of 69.41 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.51 and a 200-day moving average of $54.08. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $45.55 and a one year high of $61.51.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KNX shares. Susquehanna raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.38.

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.