Knight-Swift Transportation Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 8,761 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 272% compared to the average daily volume of 2,356 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $44.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $66.00 to $55.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.67.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

NYSE KNX traded down $0.33 on Monday, hitting $43.99. 1,834,577 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,922,450. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $36.69 and a 1-year high of $61.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.26 and a beta of 1.18.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.83 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 2.43%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Knight-Swift Transportation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Douglas L. Col bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.37 per share, with a total value of $226,850.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $226,850. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,935,845 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $649,560,000 after acquiring an additional 515,212 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,344,372 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $362,897,000 after acquiring an additional 364,263 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,629,706 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $331,813,000 after acquiring an additional 638,352 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,201,276 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $221,541,000 after purchasing an additional 125,827 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,556,405 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $188,632,000 after acquiring an additional 63,241 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by 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.