Paloma Partners Management Co Boosts Position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 681.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 60,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 52,323 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $3,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Interval Partners LP raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% during the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $64,547,000 after buying an additional 1,278,011 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,330,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,157 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,176,069 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,331,000 after purchasing an additional 807,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,594,817 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $379,133,000 after purchasing an additional 744,412 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on KNX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of KNX opened at $59.36 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 258.10, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.93. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Knight-Swift Transportation’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.