Short Interest in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Expands By 6.8%

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,560,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 6,140,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KNX. Citigroup lowered Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America raised their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.56.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 2.6 %

KNX traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $54.87. 2,867,803 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,425,211. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 238.55, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.27.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $209,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,254 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,407 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 14,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $787,000 after buying an additional 3,555 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.