Short Interest in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) Grows By 35.2%

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,730,000 shares, an increase of 35.2% from the May 15th total of 1,280,000 shares. Approximately 6.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 801,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Saia Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:SAIA opened at $260.48 on Thursday. 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 0.12, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $6.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $279.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $387.38.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $787.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $806.18 million. Saia had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 9.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.38 EPS. Analysts forecast that Saia will post 15.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SAIA. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Saia from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $387.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on Saia and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Saia from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $455.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Saia to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $333.84.

Institutional Trading of Saia

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SAIA. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Saia by 69.3% in the 4th 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. grew its holdings in Saia by 24,815.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 372,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $169,863,000 after acquiring an additional 371,232 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Saia by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,206,837 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $421,705,000 after acquiring an additional 315,514 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new stake in Saia during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,199,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Saia by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,831,614 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $989,452,000 after acquiring an additional 288,746 shares during the last quarter.

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.