Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. $KNX

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group increased its Knight-Swift Transportation stake by 152.4% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 426,026 shares valued at approximately $33.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 88.77% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.26. Several firms recently raised their targets to between $86 and $98.
• Knight-Swift beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $0.63 in EPS on $2.10 billion in revenue, while year-over-year revenue rose 12.6%. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, yielding about 1.2%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Free Report) by 152.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 426,026 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 257,256 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.26% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $33,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 7,314.3% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,279,801 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,111,968,000 after buying an additional 14,087,203 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,918,523 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $675,380,000 after acquiring an additional 2,468,293 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the second quarter valued at approximately $173,669,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 513.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,416,865 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $126,354,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022,996 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,070,000. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, CEO Reid Dove sold 126,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.13, for a total transaction of $9,277,564.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Vander Ploeg sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.33, for a total transaction of $115,126.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,583,087.16. This trade represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 224,954 shares of company stock worth $16,183,454. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KNX has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. TD Cowen upped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Benchmark increased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.26.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:KNX opened at $69.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.92. The company has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 265.40, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.18. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.63 and a 12 month high of $82.86.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $2.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.56% and a return on equity of 3.51%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Knight-Swift Transportation has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.710-0.770 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Knight-Swift Transportation's payout ratio is currently 307.69%.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc is a transportation and logistics company that provides freight services across North America. Its operations include truckload transportation, less-than-truckload shipping, intermodal services and logistics solutions for commercial and industrial customers.

The company operates a large fleet of tractors and trailers and offers dedicated and irregular-route truckload services, freight brokerage and supply-chain support. Its less-than-truckload business transports smaller shipments through regional and national networks, while its intermodal operations combine rail and highway transportation.

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