Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $510.59.

A number of research analysts recently commented on SAIA shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Saia in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Saia from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research raised Saia from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $511.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Saia from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Saia from $510.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Activity at Saia

In related news, EVP Rohit Lal sold 1,120 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $627,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,631,200. This trade represents a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Saia during the 1st quarter valued at about $311,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Saia by 56.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 139 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new stake in Saia in the second quarter worth approximately $392,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Saia by 388.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,756 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Saia during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,012,000.

Saia Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SAIA stock opened at $515.93 on Wednesday. Saia has a 1 year low of $358.90 and a 1 year high of $628.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, a PE ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $493.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $451.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.53 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $842.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.82 million. Saia had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 11.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Saia will post 13.53 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.