Retirement Systems of Alabama Cuts Stake in Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its holdings in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 389,316 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 7,946 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.24% of Knight-Swift Transportation worth $22,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 136.5% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 667 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 80.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 732 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 25.0% during the third quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 1,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Knight-Swift Transportation in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $112,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,836.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock opened at $46.85 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.22. Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.73 and a 12 month high of $60.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.93, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.07). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 2.54% and a net margin of 1.50%. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Knight-Swift Transportation Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Knight-Swift Transportation’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.71.

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.