Brokerages Set Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Price Target at $53.88

Key Points

• Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with 11 out of 17 research firms recommending a buy or strong buy.
• The company's latest earnings report indicated a quarterly EPS of $0.35, slightly exceeding analyst estimates, though revenue came in just below expectations at $1.86 billion.
• Knight-Swift has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, which represents a yield of 1.7%, to be paid on September 22nd.

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.8750.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KNX. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $63.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock traded up $1.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 458,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,856,132. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $44.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.99. Knight-Swift Transportation has a one year low of $36.69 and a one year high of $61.51. The stock has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.17.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 2.22% and a return on equity of 3.03%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Knight-Swift Transportation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.59%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 31,736 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 119,080 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $6,316,000 after purchasing an additional 20,183 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 727,155 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $38,568,000 after acquiring an additional 10,954 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter valued at $15,111,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,882 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.