Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

KNX traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, reaching $54.84. 3,312,994 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,027,297. The stock has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 238.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $55.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.34.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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 objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.