Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Price Target Raised to $63.00

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $61.00 to $63.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on KNX. Barclays raised their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James raised their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.56.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KNX opened at $54.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.25. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $60.99. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 238.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.98.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KNX. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,185,000. Interval Partners LP boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% in the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278,011 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $53,331,000 after acquiring an additional 807,572 shares during the period. Finally, Brandes Investment Partners LP purchased a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,251,000. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.