Evercore ISI Trims Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Target Price to $55.00

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its target price cut by Evercore ISI from $60.00 to $55.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $50.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $57.71.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

KNX opened at $46.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 69.99, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.73 and a twelve month high of $60.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $53.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.07). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.54% and a net margin of 1.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $112,480.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,836.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,715,804 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $906,016,000 after buying an additional 2,137,296 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,021,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $865,977,000 after acquiring an additional 57,000 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 908.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,232,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,371,944 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $185,524,000 after purchasing an additional 311,788 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.