Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) Trading Down 10.7% on Insider Selling

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) shares dropped 10.7% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $408.99 and last traded at $405.29. Approximately 160,231 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 362,837 shares. The stock had previously closed at $453.90.

Specifically, CAO Kelly W. Benton sold 460 shares of Saia stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. Batteh sold 700 shares of Saia stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.09, for a total value of $350,063.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,663,299.34. This trade represents a 17.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SAIA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Saia from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Saia from $560.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Saia from $525.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Saia from $456.00 to $478.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Saia from $550.00 to $510.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $535.41.

Saia Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $480.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $466.55.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The transportation company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.87 by ($0.03). Saia had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.28%. The firm had revenue of $789.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Saia, Inc. will post 15.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Saia

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Saia during the third quarter worth approximately $1,408,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE acquired a new position in Saia during the fourth quarter worth $1,324,000. Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Saia by 100.6% during the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 1,565 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Saia by 89.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 4,313 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,886,000 after buying an additional 2,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Saia by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 59,870 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $27,285,000 after buying an additional 1,644 shares during 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.