Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) Short Interest Down 20.6% in December

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,660,000 shares, a drop of 20.6% from the November 30th total of 2,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 366,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Saia news, EVP Rohit Lal sold 1,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total value of $627,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,270 shares in the company, valued at $4,631,200. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Saia

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAIA. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Saia by 347.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 159,853 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $75,817,000 after buying an additional 124,117 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Saia by 64.6% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 250,626 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $109,589,000 after acquiring an additional 98,383 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in Saia by 10.2% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 692,405 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $302,761,000 after acquiring an additional 64,351 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in Saia in the third quarter valued at about $22,979,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Saia by 43,625.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,916 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $17,016,000 after acquiring an additional 38,827 shares in the last quarter.

Saia Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Saia stock traded down $0.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $475.31. 151,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 383,958. Saia has a twelve month low of $358.90 and a twelve month high of $628.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $511.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $459.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.74.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The transportation company reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.53 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $842.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.82 million. Saia had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 11.83%. Saia's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Saia will post 13.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SAIA. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Saia from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $440.00 to $437.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Saia from $416.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Saia from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Saia from $499.00 to $566.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of Saia in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $514.88.

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.