Barclays PLC Acquires 91,661 Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Free Report) by 40.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 320,511 shares of the transportation company's stock after acquiring an additional 91,661 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.20% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $17,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Next Century Growth Investors LLC grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 170,466 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $9,042,000 after acquiring an additional 46,465 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 62.8% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 32,737 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $1,736,000 after purchasing an additional 12,628 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 55.5% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 9,274 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,309 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 68,807 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,650,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,882 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col purchased 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $45.37 per share, for a total transaction of $226,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $226,850. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KNX. Bank of America downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $63.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.13.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:KNX traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.61. 6,342,902 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,284,569. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.69 and a fifty-two week high of $61.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.26 and a beta of 1.16.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.03). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.43% and a net margin of 1.59%. As a group, research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.63%.

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.