Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Swift Transportation Company (NYSE:SWFT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday, July 18th.
According to Zacks, “Swift Transportation Co., LLC operates as a multi-faceted transportation services company primarily engaged in providing truckload carrier services in North America. The Company’s transportation services include dry van, dedicated, temperature controlled, cross border, and port drayage operations; rail intermodal; freight brokerage; and third-party logistics operations. The Company conducts its operations through major terminals positioned near major freight centers and traffic lanes in the United States and Mexico. Its fleet includes tractors, trailers and intermodal containers. Swift Transportation Co., LLC is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. “
Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SWFT. Deutsche Bank AG reiterated a buy rating on shares of Swift Transportation in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Swift Transportation in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Vetr upgraded shares of Swift Transportation from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $25.73 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Longbow Research upgraded shares of Swift Transportation from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $26.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Swift Transportation from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $28.18.
Swift Transportation (SWFT) traded up 0.32% during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.32. 1,137,954 shares of the stock traded hands. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46 and a beta of 1.97. Swift Transportation has a 12-month low of $18.05 and a 12-month high of $27.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $25.90 and its 200-day moving average is $23.51.
Swift Transportation (NYSE:SWFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The transportation company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1,000 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Swift Transportation had a net margin of 2.99% and a return on equity of 22.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Swift Transportation will post $0.98 EPS for the current year.
In other news, CFO Virginia Henkels sold 20,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.90, for a total transaction of $485,767.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,772 shares in the company, valued at $1,285,150.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard H. Dozer sold 1,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.26, for a total transaction of $44,468.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,572 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,776.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 223,113 shares of company stock valued at $5,385,729 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 44.90% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Swift Transportation by 1.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,853,687 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $181,855,000 after buying an additional 127,340 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Swift Transportation by 9.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,661,850 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $157,374,000 after buying an additional 629,792 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Swift Transportation by 40,731.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,864,210 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $99,912,000 after buying an additional 4,852,297 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Swift Transportation by 5.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,189,778 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,977,000 after buying an additional 106,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Swift Transportation by 15.8% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,174,749 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,669,000 after buying an additional 296,364 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.00% of the company’s stock.
About Swift Transportation
Swift Transportation Company is a multi-faceted transportation services company. As of December 31, 2016, the Company operated fleets of truckload equipment in North America from over 40 terminals near key freight centers and traffic lanes. The Company’ segments include Truckload, Dedicated, Swift Refrigerated and Intermodal.
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