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

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $525.00 to $560.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 26.96% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Saia from $481.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Saia in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Saia from $465.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Saia from $499.00 to $566.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.18.

Saia Stock Performance

SAIA stock traded down $7.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $441.09. The company had a trading volume of 43,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 294,691. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $459.56. The company has a market cap of $11.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.26. Saia has a twelve month low of $358.90 and a twelve month high of $628.34.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $842.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $839.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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, sell-side analysts expect that Saia will post 13.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Saia news, EVP Rohit Lal sold 1,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $627,200.00. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Saia

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAIA. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Saia by 3.0% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,390 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Saia in the 2nd quarter valued at about $271,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Saia by 347.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 159,853 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,817,000 after buying an additional 124,117 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Saia by 133.1% in the 2nd quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 2,005 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Saia by 51.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,722 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after buying an additional 3,319 shares during the period.

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.