Nuance Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Nuance Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 532,476 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,581,000. Nuance Investments LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Knight-Swift Transportation as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of KNX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,058,952 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,049,000 after purchasing an additional 35,549 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 74,221 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,139,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,290,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,324 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $192,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 4,385.6% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 391,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $22,563,000 after acquiring an additional 382,646 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $57.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael K. Liu sold 5,696 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total value of $304,679.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,422,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,294,210.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael K. Liu sold 5,696 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.49, for a total transaction of $304,679.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,196 shares of company stock valued at $4,367,869 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

KNX stock opened at $51.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 77.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average of $51.57 and a 200-day moving average of $50.90. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.55 and a 12-month high of $60.99.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.88% and a return on equity of 1.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is 95.52%.

Knight-Swift Transportation 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.