ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stake in Saia, Inc. $SAIA

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) by 87.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 118,420 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,129 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Saia were worth $32,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAIA. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Saia by 17.3% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of Saia by 35.4% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 315,514 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Saia by 11.4% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 288,746 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Saia by 59.6% in the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 480,498 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $167,900,000 after buying an additional 179,444 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Saia in the 1st quarter valued at $37,228,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Saia from $295.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Saia from $274.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded Saia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Saia in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Saia and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $349.89.

Saia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SAIA opened at $297.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $302.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.57. The company has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 2.00. Saia, Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.12 and a 1-year high of $624.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The transportation company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $817.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $826.59 million. Saia had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 8.96%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Saia, Inc. will post 15.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saia 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.