Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Stock Rating Lowered by Stifel Nicolaus

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $47.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $53.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential downside of 0.30% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on KNX. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens dropped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.71.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

KNX stock opened at $47.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.17. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.36, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1 year low of $45.73 and a 1 year high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.53% and a net margin of 1.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $112,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares in the company, valued at $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,964,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $750,459,000 after purchasing an additional 54,133 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 4.5% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,251,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $62,950,000 after acquiring an additional 54,076 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 22.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 205,951 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,328,000 after acquiring an additional 37,934 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3,637.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 185,626 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,701,000 after acquiring an additional 180,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter valued at about $4,674,000. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.