Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Price Target Lowered to $70.00 at Morgan Stanley

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $72.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the transportation company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised Knight-Swift Transportation to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.88.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE:KNX traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $51.94. 3,793,221 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,070,448. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 126.69, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.92. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $52.27 and a 200 day moving average of $50.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 0.88%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation's dividend payout ratio is 156.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael K. Liu sold 5,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $304,679.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Michael K. Liu sold 5,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $304,679.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $2,318,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,422,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,294,210.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,196 shares of company stock worth $4,367,869 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Interval Partners LP increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% in the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $64,547,000 after buying an additional 1,278,011 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,330,934 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $66,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,157 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 27.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,431,299 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $271,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176,069 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $53,331,000 after purchasing an additional 807,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,594,817 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $379,133,000 after purchasing an additional 744,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% 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.