Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Declares Dividend Increase - $0.18 Per Share

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the transportation company on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

Knight-Swift Transportation has raised its dividend payment by an average of 19.0% annually over the last three years. Knight-Swift Transportation has a dividend payout ratio of 18.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Knight-Swift Transportation to earn $3.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.3%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

NYSE:KNX traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $54.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,144,059. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.05. The company has a market capitalization of $8.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.28 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $61.51.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Susquehanna raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

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.