Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 653,238 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,447 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $35,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,935,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 9.0% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 263,033 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,131,000 after acquiring an additional 21,689 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 21.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,821 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,942,000 after acquiring an additional 15,600 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the first quarter valued at $3,162,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 133,178 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,328,000 after purchasing an additional 15,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Knight-Swift Transportation to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.94.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In related news, Director Robert E. Synowicki, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.32, for a total value of $133,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,135.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of KNX stock opened at $58.88 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.55 and a 12 month high of $60.99. The stock has a market cap of $9.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 256.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.71.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The transportation company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during 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%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company 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.