Invst LLC Purchases New Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Invst LLC has acquired 13,540 shares of Blue Bird Corporation, valued at approximately $438,000, marking a significant new stake for the firm.
• Multiple hedge funds, including Northern Trust Corp and Bank of America Corp DE, have increased their holdings in Blue Bird, indicating growing institutional interest with hedge funds owning 93.59% of the company's stock.
• Blue Bird reported strong earnings with an EPS of $1.19 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a 19.4% revenue increase year-over-year.

Invst LLC acquired a new stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,540 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1,879.3% during the 1st 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 acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth $424,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,358,691 shares of the company's stock worth $43,981,000 after purchasing an additional 23,569 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 96.0% during the 1st 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. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.9% during the 1st 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. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLBD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $58.79.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.21, for a total transaction of $532,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 48,203 shares in the company, valued at $2,564,881.63. This represents a 17.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,445,960. The trade was a 11.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,392 shares of company stock worth $7,794,083 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Blue Bird stock traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $59.22. 98,515 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 564,237. Blue Bird Corporation has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $60.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $377.64 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Blue Bird Profile

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.