Raymond James Cuts Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Price Target to $55.00

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its target price lowered by Raymond James from $66.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a strong-buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on KNX. StockNews.com upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Benchmark initiated coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $63.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $53.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $54.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.94.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE KNX opened at $39.84 on Friday. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $36.69 and a 1-year high of $61.51. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $47.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.19. The company has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.57 and a beta of 1.16.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. Equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is 98.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,850. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the first quarter worth $791,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3,369.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,317 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 44,982 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter valued at about $497,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter worth about $2,796,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

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.