Cetera Investment Advisers Invests $341,000 in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers has acquired 10,522 shares of Blue Bird Corporation, valued at approximately $341,000, marking a new position for the firm in the first quarter.
• Blue Bird recently reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, surpassing expectations of $0.90, with revenues also exceeding forecasts at $398.01 million.
• Insider selling has been noted, with SVP Ted Scartz and CFO Razvan Radulescu selling shares, totaling significant transactions that decreased their ownership percentages.

Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $341,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 1,879.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 196,739 shares of the company's stock worth $6,479,000 after purchasing an additional 186,799 shares during the period. Brookwood Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Blue Bird in the first quarter worth $424,000. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Blue Bird by 96.0% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 13,303 shares of the company's stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 6,517 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 36.9% in the first quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 26,357 shares of the company's stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 36.5% in the first quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 81,379 shares of the company's stock worth $2,634,000 after purchasing an additional 21,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BLBD. Wall Street Zen raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 700 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total value of $42,014.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 47,503 shares in the company, valued at $2,851,130.06. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total value of $490,187.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,024.18. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,832 shares of company stock worth $7,559,425 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD traded up $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $55.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 752,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,293. Blue Bird Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $60.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $46.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.82.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%.The company had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.64 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Blue Bird

Blue Bird Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, and sells school buses in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Bus and Parts. It offers Type C, Type D, and specialty buses; and alternative power options through its propane powered, gasoline powered, compressed natural gas powered, and electric powered school buses, as well as diesel engines.