Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Buys New Shares in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 953 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Saia by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,522,938 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,149,779,000 after purchasing an additional 25,090 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased 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 valued at $883,941,000 after buying an additional 794,197 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Saia by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 261,803 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $116,670,000 after acquiring an additional 11,177 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its position in Saia by 72.9% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 249,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $113,833,000 after buying an additional 105,356 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Saia by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 230,904 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $105,230,000 after acquiring an additional 20,372 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Saia

In other Saia news, 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 transaction of $350,063.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 3,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,663,299.34. The trade was a 17.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Patrick D. Sugar sold 799 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $493.74, for a total value of $394,498.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,260,482.46. This represents a 8.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,493 shares of company stock valued at $4,646,181 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on SAIA shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Saia from $498.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Saia from $540.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Saia in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $570.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Saia from $560.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Saia from $524.00 to $480.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Saia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.39.

Saia Stock Up 5.0 %

SAIA stock opened at $334.55 on Friday. Saia, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $287.50 and a fifty-two week high of $624.55. The company has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $386.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $454.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.57.

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

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.