Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $1.08 Million Stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,305 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,258 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $1,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,729,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,146,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $61,878,000 after buying an additional 26,346 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,021,000. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,771,000 after buying an additional 16,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 681.6% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 60,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,237,000 after buying an additional 52,323 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $67.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.41.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

NYSE KNX opened at $46.56 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.95 and a 12-month high of $61.51. The firm has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.77 and a beta of 0.97.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.03. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.59% and a return on equity of 2.43%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $45.37 per share, with a total value of $226,850.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $226,850. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation 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.