Next Century Growth Investors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Next Century Growth Investors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 37.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 170,466 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 46,465 shares during the quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC’s holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation were worth $9,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KNX. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,980,109 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $423,265,000 after purchasing an additional 506,491 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,201,276 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $221,541,000 after acquiring an additional 125,827 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,740,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $147,529,000 after acquiring an additional 46,436 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,885,438 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $100,004,000 after purchasing an additional 507,370 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Knight-Swift Transportation in the 4th quarter worth about $65,839,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KNX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $66.00 to $55.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Bank of America downgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $66.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.94.

Insider Activity at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Director Douglas L. Col bought 5,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,850. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 1.9 %

Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $39.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $6.45 billion, a PE ratio of 54.57 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.20. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.69 and a 12 month high of $61.51.

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

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s payout ratio is presently 98.63%.

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.