Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased 181,900 shares of Blue Bird Corporation, valued at approximately $5.89 million, increasing their ownership to 0.57% of the company.
• Blue Bird Corporation reported earnings of $1.19 EPS for the quarter, exceeding expectations, with revenues of $398.01 million, a 19.4% year-over-year increase.
• Analyst ratings for Blue Bird include a "buy" from Needham & Company, with an average target price of $57.36, reflecting positive outlooks from several research reports.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 181,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,888,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.57% of Blue Bird at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,262 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 440.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Blue Bird by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 1st quarter valued at $102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.21, for a total transaction of $532,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 48,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,564,881.63. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total transaction of $490,187.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 48,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,693,024.18. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,832 shares of company stock valued at $7,559,425 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:BLBD traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.39. The stock had a trading volume of 566,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,430. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.50. Blue Bird Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $60.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $48.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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