Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $83.22.

A number of brokerages have commented on KNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KNX. Jacobi Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 55.8% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Heritage Family Offices LLP acquired a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the 3rd quarter worth $92,000. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of KNX opened at $61.73 on Friday. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52 week low of $41.24 and a 52 week high of $82.86. The firm has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The transportation company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.92% and a return on equity of 4.71%. The business’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.02%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings is a transportation and logistics company providing freight services primarily across North America. Its offerings include truckload transportation, less-than-truckload shipping, freight brokerage, logistics and intermodal services. The company’s truckload operations serve a range of shipping needs, including dry van, refrigerated, flatbed and dedicated transportation. Its network also supports cross-border freight movements between the United States, Mexico and Canada.