Traders Buy High Volume of Knight-Swift Transportation Call Options (NYSE:KNX)

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 12,267 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,236% compared to the average daily volume of 918 call options.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

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

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 1st quarter valued at $3,162,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the first quarter valued at about $1,935,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 98,797 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,436,000 after acquiring an additional 7,337 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 74.9% in the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 72,420 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,985,000 after acquiring an additional 31,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Loop Capital downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Raymond James began coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of KNX stock opened at $47.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.08. Knight-Swift Transportation has a one year low of $45.55 and a one year high of $60.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.07). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.54% and a net margin of 1.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is currently 95.52%.

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.