Millennium Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 309.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,068,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 807,572 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.66% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $53,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. UBS Group AG boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 118,620 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,838,000 after buying an additional 5,033 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 161,243 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 20,872 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the fourth quarter worth about $584,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 238,762 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,765,000 after purchasing an additional 33,396 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KNX. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $57.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KNX opened at $53.96 on Tuesday. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.55 and a fifty-two week high of $60.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.56. The company has a market capitalization of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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

Knight-Swift Transportation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is 95.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $1,509,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,852,228.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $1,509,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,852,228.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $73,294,210.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 85,196 shares of company stock valued at $4,367,869. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.