Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $620.00 to $600.00. The stock had previously closed at $493.04, but opened at $481.67. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Saia shares last traded at $482.27, with a volume of 25,603 shares traded.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on SAIA. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Saia from $481.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Saia from $651.00 to $644.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Saia from $525.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Saia from $465.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Saia from $503.00 to $488.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Saia presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.59.

Insider Activity

In other Saia news, EVP Rohit Lal sold 1,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $627,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,270 shares in the company, valued at $4,631,200. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Saia

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Saia by 2.6% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 869,859 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $412,566,000 after purchasing an additional 22,143 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Saia by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 805,597 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $352,255,000 after buying an additional 24,351 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Saia by 10.2% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 692,405 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $302,761,000 after buying an additional 64,351 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Saia by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 471,667 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $206,292,000 after purchasing an additional 6,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Saia by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 303,582 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $132,744,000 after purchasing an additional 31,991 shares during the period.

Saia Trading Down 1.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.79. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $506.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $459.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by ($0.07). Saia had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 11.83%. The company had revenue of $842.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Saia, Inc. will post 13.49 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.