Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $0.11-0.12 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $0.39. Knight-Swift Transportation also updated its Q1 2024 guidance to 0.190-0.200 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stephens reduced their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $57.77.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KNX opened at $47.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.19. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.73 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The transportation company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.38). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 3.93% and a net margin of 3.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is 48.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $112,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 473,707 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,309,000 after purchasing an additional 26,232 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 820,909 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $47,325,000 after purchasing an additional 185,561 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,021,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $865,977,000 after purchasing an additional 57,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 203,082 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $11,708,000 after purchasing an additional 25,135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

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.