Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Short Interest Up 6.8% in December

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,560,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 6,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 747 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,201 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KNX traded down $1.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $54.87. 2,867,803 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,425,211. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.27. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 238.55, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.98. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $45.55 and a 12-month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 278.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on KNX shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.56.

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.