Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Given New $52.00 Price Target at TD Cowen

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its price target reduced by TD Cowen from $58.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital cut shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $63.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $57.77.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of KNX opened at $47.88 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.83 and its 200-day moving average is $54.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $45.73 and a 12-month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The transportation company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 3.93% and a net margin of 3.04%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $112,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,118 shares in the company, valued at $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,715,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $906,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137,296 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,021,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $865,977,000 after acquiring an additional 57,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,314,648 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $318,637,000 after acquiring an additional 166,644 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,015,443 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $262,859,000 after purchasing an additional 387,501 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 908.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,181,899 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $241,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,767,408 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.