Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Stock

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 40.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KNX. Zacks Research raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.88.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of KNX stock opened at $49.83 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $45.05 and a 200-day moving average of $44.07. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.17. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52-week low of $36.69 and a 52-week high of $61.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.06). Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 2.98%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Knight-Swift Transportation has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.340-0.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.01, for a total transaction of $1,785,350.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,405,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,686,750.47. This represents a 2.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 4,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.04, for a total transaction of $193,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,205.76. This represents a 43.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 43,992 shares of company stock worth $2,220,707. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8,856.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,647,150 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $70,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,760 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 269.7% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,231,439 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $88,164,000 after buying an additional 1,627,791 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 252.4% in the 3rd quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 2,262,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $89,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620,224 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,407,000. Finally, Clean Energy Transition LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,817,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.