Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $524.00 price target on the transportation company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price points to a potential upside of 28.86% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SAIA. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Saia from $550.00 to $510.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Saia from $620.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Saia from $566.00 to $558.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Saia from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Saia from $600.00 to $565.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $535.12.

Saia Stock Down 10.4 %

Shares of Saia stock opened at $406.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.79. Saia has a fifty-two week low of $358.90 and a fifty-two week high of $628.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $480.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.15.

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

Insider Transactions at Saia

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Batteh sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.09, for a total value of $350,063.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,663,299.34. This represents a 17.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 17,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,599,114.30. This represents a 29.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,493 shares of company stock valued at $4,646,181. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Saia

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Saia during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Saia by 172.7% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 60 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Saia during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Saia by 291.7% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 94 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Saia by 76.6% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 113 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period.

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.