Knight-Swift Transportation Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 4,036 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 131% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,750 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on KNX. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.44.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $55.82 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 242.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.98. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 278.27%.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the third quarter worth approximately $3,729,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,146,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $61,878,000 after buying an additional 26,346 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 30.9% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,771,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 681.6% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 60,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,237,000 after buying an additional 52,323 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 116.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 130,794 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,056,000 after buying an additional 70,276 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Knight-Swift Transportation

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.