Citigroup Downgrades Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) to Sell

Citigroup downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $56.00 target price on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

NYSE:KNX opened at $55.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.91. The company has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 243.10, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Knight-Swift Transportation has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is currently 278.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,935,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.0% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 263,033 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,131,000 after buying an additional 21,689 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 21.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,942,000 after buying an additional 15,600 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the first quarter worth $3,162,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 12.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 133,178 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,328,000 after buying an additional 15,040 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.