Evercore Upgrades Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) to “Outperform”

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Evercore from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock. Evercore’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.78% from the company’s previous close.

KNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Research upgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $64.00 price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Friday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $55.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1 year low of $36.69 and a 1 year high of $64.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.79. The firm has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 135.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.12.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The transportation company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.88% and a net margin of 0.88%.The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Knight-Swift Transportation has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $1,830,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,305,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,626,167. This represents a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joshua Smith sold 5,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.91, for a total value of $351,450.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,214 shares in the company, valued at $561,224.74. This trade represents a 38.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 42,930 shares of company stock valued at $2,581,186 in the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 134.6% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 671 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,478.6% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 884 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 7,100.0% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 111.3% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

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.