Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 556,912 Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,420,633 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 556,912 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.91% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $764,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of KNX. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 3rd quarter valued at $70,185,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,980,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $423,265,000 after purchasing an additional 506,491 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 34.1% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,412,869 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $76,224,000 after purchasing an additional 359,566 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,256,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,111,000. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 2.3 %

KNX opened at $43.54 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.13. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.72 and a fifty-two week high of $61.51. The company has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.65 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 2.43%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is presently 98.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $45.37 per share, with a total value of $226,850.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,850. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on KNX shares. Benchmark began coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $63.00 target price for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $54.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.59.

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.