Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Upgraded at Evercore

Evercore upgraded shares of Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. Evercore currently has $65.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on KNX. Barclays boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $55.66 on Friday. Knight-Swift Transportation has a one year low of $36.69 and a one year high of $64.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.76, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The transportation company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.88% and a net margin of 0.88%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Knight-Swift Transportation has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 195.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total transaction of $1,830,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,305,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,626,167. The trade was a 2.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joshua Smith sold 5,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.91, for a total transaction of $351,450.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $561,224.74. This trade represents a 38.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,930 shares of company stock worth $2,581,186. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 134.6% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 671 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 1,478.6% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 884 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 7,100.0% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 111.3% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 936 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company Profile

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE: KNX) is one of North America’s largest asset-based truckload carriers, offering a wide range of transportation and logistics services. The company was formed in 2017 through the merger of Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation, each with decades of experience in long-haul dry van and refrigerated freight. Since the merger, Knight-Swift has pursued a growth strategy that includes fleet expansions, targeted acquisitions, and investments in technology to enhance service reliability and network efficiency.

The company’s core business activities include full truckload operations for dry van, temperature-controlled and flatbed shipments.