Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Releases Q1 Earnings Guidance

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) issued an update on its first quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.11-0.12 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.39. Knight-Swift Transportation also updated its Q1 2024 guidance to 0.190-0.200 EPS.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of KNX traded down $2.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $48.53. 11,672,387 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,066,682. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52 week low of $45.73 and a 52 week high of $60.99. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.27. The firm has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The transportation company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.38). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 3.93% and a net margin of 3.04%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is a positive change from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $59.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $62.75.

Insider Transactions at Knight-Swift Transportation

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $112,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,021,291 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $865,977,000 after acquiring an additional 57,000 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 13.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,219,189 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $414,739,000 after acquiring an additional 972,139 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,314,648 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $318,637,000 after acquiring an additional 166,644 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,015,443 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $262,859,000 after acquiring an additional 387,501 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 2.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,949,555 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $148,834,000 after acquiring an additional 80,322 shares during the period. 88.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Knight-Swift Transportation Company 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.