Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Earns Market Outperform Rating from Analysts at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a market outperform rating and a $90.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Evercore raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Stephens raised Knight-Swift Transportation to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Susquehanna raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.44.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $76.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a PE ratio of 364.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.20. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $38.63 and a 1-year high of $82.86.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.94% and a net margin of 0.45%.The business’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 380.95%.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 123.9% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 544 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 134.6% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 671 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,478.6% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 884 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 868 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE: KNX) is one of North America’s largest asset-based truckload carriers, offering a wide range of transportation and logistics services. The company was formed in 2017 through the merger of Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation, each with decades of experience in long-haul dry van and refrigerated freight. Since the merger, Knight-Swift has pursued a growth strategy that includes fleet expansions, targeted acquisitions, and investments in technology to enhance service reliability and network efficiency.

The company’s core business activities include full truckload operations for dry van, temperature-controlled and flatbed shipments.