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

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of 0.16 per share by the transportation company on Monday, June 24th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Knight-Swift Transportation has increased its dividend by an average of 20.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 5 years. Knight-Swift Transportation has a payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Knight-Swift Transportation to earn $2.90 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 22.1%.

Knight-Swift Transportation Stock Performance

Knight-Swift Transportation stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $47.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,748,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,181,050. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.93. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $45.55 and a 12-month high of $60.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.99, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.03.

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The transportation company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 2.54%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.73 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Knight-Swift Transportation will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 2,000 shares of Knight-Swift Transportation stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $287,836.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on KNX. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective 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. Loop Capital lowered Knight-Swift Transportation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Knight-Swift Transportation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.71.

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.