Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,494,793 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 44,156 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $79,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,185,000. Nuance Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 929,083 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $50,124,000 after purchasing an additional 396,607 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,412,869 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,224,000 after purchasing an additional 359,566 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter worth $16,256,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 933,359 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $49,505,000 after buying an additional 280,121 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KNX. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price target for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

NYSE KNX opened at $50.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.01 and a beta of 0.99. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.55 and a 52-week high of $61.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $54.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is currently 98.63%.

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.