Verition Fund Management LLC Acquires 47,785 Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 77.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,665 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,785 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $5,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in KNX. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3,461.9% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 727 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 87.2% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 747 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 28.6% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 900 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 168.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,020 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on KNX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.38.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:KNX opened at $58.45 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.77. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 254.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.93.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 1.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is 278.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,754,625.90. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.