World Equity Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA)

World Equity Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 442 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SAIA. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Saia by 319.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 285 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Saia by 22.3% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Saia by 43,625.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 38,916 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $17,016,000 after purchasing an additional 38,827 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in Saia by 45.4% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 721 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Saia by 7.1% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,085 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period.

Saia Price Performance

Shares of SAIA stock opened at $420.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Saia, Inc. has a 1-year low of $358.90 and a 1-year high of $628.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $478.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $467.40.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $789.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.69 million. Saia had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 11.28%. Saia’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Saia, Inc. will post 15.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Saia news, CAO Kelly W. Benton sold 460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,143,500. This trade represents a 9.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.34, for a total transaction of $3,671,619.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 17,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,599,114.30. This represents a 29.92 % 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SAIA. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Saia from $525.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Saia from $560.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Saia from $456.00 to $478.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Saia from $550.00 to $510.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Saia in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $535.12.

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.