ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 1,869 Shares of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,521 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 1,869 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.13% of Saia worth $15,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SAIA. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Saia in the first quarter worth $422,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Saia by 2.9% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 74,474 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $18,158,000 after purchasing an additional 2,083 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Saia by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 9,652 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in Saia by 56.9% in the first quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 8,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in Saia by 7.4% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 14,397 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,608,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Saia

In other Saia news, VP Raymond R. Ramu sold 1,943 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.83, for a total value of $1,099,407.69. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,516,246.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Saia news, CEO Frederick J. Holzgrefe III sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $533.46, for a total value of $4,000,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,600,738.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Raymond R. Ramu sold 1,943 shares of Saia stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.83, for a total value of $1,099,407.69. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,516,246.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,699 shares of company stock worth $14,966,813 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Saia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $484.00 to $526.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Raymond James increased their target price on Saia from $565.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Saia from $504.00 to $567.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark increased their target price on Saia from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Saia from $450.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $500.84.

Saia Stock Performance

SAIA traded down $5.02 on Friday, hitting $517.51. The company had a trading volume of 245,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 278,975. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $572.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $475.17. Saia, Inc. has a 12-month low of $244.69 and a 12-month high of $628.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.62.

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The transportation company reported $3.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.13. Saia had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.31%. The company had revenue of $751.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $745.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.65 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Saia, Inc. will post 16.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Saia Company 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.