Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) to Hold

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) was downgraded by Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $47.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $53.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.23% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on KNX. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $53.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.71.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of KNX stock opened at $46.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a PE ratio of 69.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $45.73 and a 12-month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.54% and a net margin of 1.50%. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $112,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 1st quarter valued at about $365,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 95.3% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 92,172 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,071,000 after buying an additional 44,987 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 1st quarter valued at about $353,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 46,400 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,553,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 109,035 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $5,999,000 after buying an additional 9,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.