Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Stock Price

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from $525.00 to $560.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.26% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens increased their price objective on Saia from $481.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Saia from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $511.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Saia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $440.00 to $437.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Saia from $492.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Saia from $515.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.18.

Saia Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ SAIA opened at $450.66 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $511.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $459.39. Saia has a 12 month low of $358.90 and a 12 month high of $628.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.79.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $842.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.82 million. Saia had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Saia will post 13.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Saia

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Saia in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Saia during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Tobam acquired a new position in Saia during the third quarter worth about $100,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Saia by 148.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 367 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 219 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.