Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $342.58.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Saia from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $273.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James set a $310.00 target price on Saia and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America cut Saia from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $251.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $250.00 price objective on Saia in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens lowered Saia from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $515.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Saia

In other news, CAO Kelly W. Benton sold 460 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,287 shares in the company, valued at $2,143,500. This trade represents a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,534 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.34, for a total value of $3,671,619.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 17,645 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 9,493 shares of company stock valued at $4,646,181 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Saia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Saia by 69.3% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,939,615 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $883,941,000 after purchasing an additional 794,197 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Saia by 24,815.0% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 372,728 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $169,863,000 after buying an additional 371,232 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Saia during the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,199,000. Interval Partners LP acquired a new stake in Saia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,229,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Saia by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 355,929 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $162,213,000 after acquiring an additional 153,896 shares during the last quarter.

Saia Stock Up 1.2 %

Saia stock traded up $3.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $263.12. The stock had a trading volume of 39,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 638,306. The company has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 2.03. The business's 50 day moving average price is $335.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $437.99. Saia has a 52 week low of $229.12 and a 52 week high of $624.55. 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 (NASDAQ:SAIA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The transportation company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.77 by ($0.91). Saia had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $787.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $806.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.38 earnings per share. Saia's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Saia will post 15.46 EPS for the current year.

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.