Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $72.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 36.13% from the stock’s previous close.

KNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup began coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded Knight-Swift Transportation from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.69.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of KNX stock traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $51.42. 1,763,618 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,060,595. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.37. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 1-year low of $45.55 and a 1-year high of $60.99. The company has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.24 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,422,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,294,210.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $1,509,900.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,852,228.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $2,318,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,422,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,294,210.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,196 shares of company stock worth $4,367,869 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KNX. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3,461.9% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 748 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 28.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 900 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 50.7% in the second 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. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 168.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 923 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,127 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% 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.