Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $443.00 to $529.00. The stock had previously closed at $495.70, but opened at $508.71. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Saia shares last traded at $497.59, with a volume of 16,070 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Saia from $525.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Saia from $503.00 to $488.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Saia from $465.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Saia from $620.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Saia from $481.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $527.65.

Insider Transactions at Saia

In other Saia news, EVP Rohit Lal sold 1,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $627,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,631,200. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SAIA. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Saia by 72.9% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 249,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $113,833,000 after acquiring an additional 105,356 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Saia by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 250,626 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $109,589,000 after acquiring an additional 98,383 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Saia by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 692,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $302,761,000 after acquiring an additional 64,351 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new position in shares of Saia during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $22,979,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Saia by 43,625.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,916 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $17,016,000 after acquiring an additional 38,827 shares during the period.

Saia Trading Up 0.6 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $503.91 and a 200-day moving average of $460.41. The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by ($0.07). Saia had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The company had revenue of $842.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $839.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Saia, Inc. will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Saia Company Profile

Saia, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a transportation company in North America. The company provides less-than-truckload services for shipments between 100 and 10,000 pounds; and other value-added services, including non-asset truckload, expedited, and logistics services. It also offers other value-added services, including non-asset truckload, expedited, and logistics services.