Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) to Issue $0.16 Quarterly Dividend

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 8th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.16 per share by the transportation company on Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th.

Knight-Swift Transportation has increased its dividend by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years. Knight-Swift Transportation has a payout ratio of 26.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Knight-Swift Transportation to earn $2.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.3%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Price Performance

KNX opened at $52.57 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.13. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52-week low of $45.55 and a 52-week high of $60.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.93.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.03). Knight-Swift Transportation had a return on equity of 1.98% and a net margin of 0.88%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,422,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,294,210.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $2,318,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,422,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,294,210.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $1,509,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,467,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,852,228.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,196 shares of company stock worth $4,367,869 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on KNX. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Knight-Swift Transportation in a research report on Friday, June 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.14.

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.