Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Rating Increased to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $524.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on SAIA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Saia from $492.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Saia from $561.00 to $544.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Saia from $550.00 to $510.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Saia from $560.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Saia from $566.00 to $558.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $535.12.

Saia Trading Down 1.5 %

SAIA opened at $404.34 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $473.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Saia has a 12 month low of $358.90 and a 12 month high of $628.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.79.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The transportation company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.87 by ($0.03). Saia had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $789.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Saia will post 15.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Saia news, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.34, for a total transaction of $3,671,619.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,599,114.30. This represents a 29.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrick D. Sugar sold 799 shares of Saia stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $493.74, for a total value of $394,498.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,629 shares in the company, valued at $4,260,482.46. This trade represents a 8.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,493 shares of company stock worth $4,646,181 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Saia

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Saia by 319.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Saia by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $17,016,000 after purchasing an additional 38,827 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Saia by 45.4% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 721 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Saia by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,348,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter.

About Saia

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.