Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Short Interest Up 6.8% in December

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,560,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 6,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,860,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of KNX opened at $54.87 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. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $60.99. The stock has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 238.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.27.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly 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. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.81% and a net margin of 0.50%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.41 earnings per share. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 278.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 29,779 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.19, for a total transaction of $1,703,061.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ploeg David Vander sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.10, for a total value of $28,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,754,625.90. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KNX. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,254 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 84.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,407 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 14,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $787,000 after buying an additional 3,555 shares during the last quarter. 88.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen boosted 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lowered shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $72.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.56.

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.