UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Stock

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at UBS Group from $66.00 to $79.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.12% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.71.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $65.23 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Knight-Swift Transportation has a one year low of $37.76 and a one year high of $67.75. The company has a market cap of $10.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 310.61, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.11.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.20). Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 2.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total transaction of $1,830,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 1,305,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,626,167. The trade was a 2.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO James L. Fitzsimmons sold 5,917 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.77, for a total value of $324,074.09. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 8,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $477,375.32. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 42,930 shares of company stock worth $2,581,186. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,183 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 868 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 52,930 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,240 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Knight-Swift Transportation this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokerages raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform ratings, signaling analyst confidence in upside (UBS to $79, TD Cowen to $78, Benchmark to $75, Stifel to $70, Baird to $70). These calls underpin upside expectations and likely stabilized sentiment after the print. Analyst Upgrades
• Positive Sentiment: Management says it’s pushing double‑digit truckload rate hikes as market capacity tightens — a direct positive for freight revenue and future margin recovery if implemented across volumes. Knight‑Swift eyes double-digit truckload rate gains
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen’s reiterated buy and analyst commentary highlighted tighter capacity, regulatory tailwinds, and margin upside as reasons to be bullish — supportive for medium‑term thesis. TD Cowen / TipRanks note
• Neutral Sentiment: Company reported Q1 revenue roughly in line with expectations and provided an earnings‑call deck/transcript; revenue was modestly up year‑over‑year but EPS declined versus last year. Market will watch cadence of rate realization and cost trends. Earnings Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other coverage noted KNX met some consensus Q1 estimates (Zacks: EPS in line with its consensus) — which reduces downside from an outright miss but leaves questions on margin recovery timing. Zacks coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Press coverage (WSJ) highlighted that Knight‑Swift swung to a first‑quarter loss and cited higher fuel costs (linked to geopolitical events) and market tightness as near‑term headwinds — a clear driver of today’s weakness. WSJ: First‑quarter loss
• Negative Sentiment: Reported EPS of $0.09 was well below some street expectations and materially down from prior year, raising near‑term profit‑margin concerns despite revenue stability. This likely prompted profit‑taking after recent gains. Q1 Earnings Snapshot

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.