Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Stock

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $251.00 to $300.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 5.23% from the company’s current price.

SAIA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Saia from $485.00 to $387.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Saia from $400.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Saia from $422.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Saia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $273.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Saia from $540.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $345.16.

Saia Trading Up 1.9%

SAIA opened at $285.10 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $321.05 and a 200-day moving average of $429.71. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 2.03. Saia has a 52 week low of $229.12 and a 52 week high of $624.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The transportation company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $787.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $806.18 million. Saia had a net margin of 11.28% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.38 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Saia will post 15.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Kelly W. Benton sold 460 shares of Saia stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,143,500. The trade was a 9.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Batteh sold 700 shares of Saia stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.09, for a total value of $350,063.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,663,299.34. The trade was a 17.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Saia

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Saia by 11.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,831,614 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $989,452,000 after purchasing an additional 288,746 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Saia by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,522,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,149,779,000 after purchasing an additional 25,090 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Saia by 17.3% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,275,661 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $795,184,000 after purchasing an additional 336,046 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Saia by 35.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,206,837 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $421,705,000 after purchasing an additional 315,514 shares during the period. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in Saia by 59.6% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 480,498 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,900,000 after purchasing an additional 179,444 shares during the period.

Saia Company 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.