Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 4,036 call options on the company. This is an increase of 131% compared to the typical volume of 1,750 call options.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total value of $1,703,061.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total transaction of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on KNX shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.44.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:KNX traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.82. 1,704,603 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,747,523. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 242.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.98. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $55.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.15. Knight-Swift Transportation has a twelve month low of $45.55 and a twelve month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Knight-Swift Transportation's dividend payout ratio is currently 278.26%.

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.