Farringdon Capital Ltd. Acquires New Position in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 584 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAIA. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Saia by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,939,615 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $883,941,000 after acquiring an additional 794,197 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Saia during the fourth quarter worth $64,410,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Saia by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 249,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $113,833,000 after purchasing an additional 105,356 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Saia in the fourth quarter valued at $46,514,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Saia in the fourth quarter valued at $45,767,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SAIA shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Saia from $565.00 to $484.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Saia from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $455.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Saia from $540.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Saia from $510.00 to $400.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Saia in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Saia currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.39.

Insider Transactions at Saia

In other news, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,534 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.34, for a total value of $3,671,619.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 17,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,599,114.30. This trade represents a 29.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Kelly W. Benton sold 460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,500. The trade was a 9.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,493 shares of company stock valued at $4,646,181 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Saia Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of SAIA opened at $334.55 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $382.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.60. Saia, Inc. has a twelve month low of $287.50 and a twelve month high of $624.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.99.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 7th. The transportation company reported $2.84 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $789.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Saia, Inc. will post 15.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Saia 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.