Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,900,000 shares, a decline of 16.1% from the November 15th total of 7,030,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, the director now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the business’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. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation during the third quarter valued at approximately $70,185,000. Interval Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,520.1% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 1,293,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,547,000 after buying an additional 1,278,011 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,728.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,330,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,440,000 after buying an additional 1,258,157 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 27.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,431,299 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $271,121,000 after buying an additional 1,176,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 309.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,331,000 after acquiring an additional 807,572 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 1.7 %

Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $55.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12 month low of $45.55 and a 12 month high of $60.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.28. The stock has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 241.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 278.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Knight-Swift Transportation currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.81.

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.