New England Research & Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 199.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,625 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,725 shares during the quarter. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $1,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 747 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 809 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,201 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KNX shares. Barclays raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 0.2 %

KNX opened at $58.41 on Thursday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.55 and a 12 month high of $61.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.02, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.98.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $1,703,061.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.