Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Citigroup upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $52.01, but opened at $54.50. Citigroup now has a $64.00 price target on the stock. Knight-Swift Transportation shares last traded at $52.5860, with a volume of 488,227 shares trading hands.

KNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings cut Knight-Swift Transportation from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, EVP Michael K. Liu sold 1,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.87, for a total transaction of $75,661.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO James L. Fitzsimmons sold 5,917 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $477,375.32. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 42,930 shares of company stock worth $2,581,186. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter valued at approximately $830,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,496,137 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $335,682,000 after purchasing an additional 76,342 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 701,856 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,730,000 after purchasing an additional 38,474 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,361,230 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $169,826,000 after purchasing an additional 765,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $749,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 126.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.12. 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 (NYSE:KNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The transportation company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.88% and a net margin of 0.88%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Knight-Swift Transportation has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. Analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.12%.

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.