Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) was in 13 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. SAIA investors should be aware of a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers recently. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with SAIA holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor, there are tons of methods market participants can use to analyze publicly traded companies. Some of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can beat the market by a superb amount (see just how much).
Just as important, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the marketplace. There are a variety of incentives for an insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this strategy if you understand what to do (learn more here).
With these “truths” under our belt, we’re going to take a gander at the recent action surrounding Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA).
How have hedgies been trading Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA)?
At the end of the fourth quarter, a total of 13 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Diamond Hill Capital, managed by Ric Dillon, holds the biggest position in Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA). Diamond Hill Capital has a $18 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, which held a $6 million position; 0% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Remaining hedgies that hold long positions include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Due to the fact that Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes at the end of the year. At the top of the heap, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw said goodbye to the biggest investment of the 450+ funds we monitor, comprising an estimated $0 million in stock. These bearish behaviors are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
What have insiders been doing with Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA)?
Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the last half-year time period, Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA). These stocks are Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD), Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN), Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI), Universal Truckload Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:UACL), and Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO). All of these stocks are in the trucking industry and their market caps resemble SAIA’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI) | 10 | 1 | 6 |
| Universal Truckload Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:UACL) | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO) | 7 | 1 | 2 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, everyday investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) applies perfectly to this mantra.
