AQR Capital Management LLC Has $8.77 Million Holdings in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC has increased its stake in Blue Bird Corporation by 13.2%, now holding about 0.84% of the company, valued at approximately $8.77 million.
• Insider trading activity includes Director Phil Horlock selling 13,000 shares and CFO Razvan Radulescu selling 6,709 shares, both resulting in significant decreases in their holdings.
• Blue Bird's recent quarterly earnings show an EPS of $1.19, exceeding expectations and demonstrating a 19.4% year-over-year revenue increase to $398.01 million.

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 270,789 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 31,618 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.84% of Blue Bird worth $8,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $6,479,000 after purchasing an additional 186,799 shares in the last quarter. Brookwood Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 1.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,358,691 shares of the company's stock worth $43,981,000 after buying an additional 23,569 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Blue Bird stock traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $57.89. 487,893 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 537,079. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.42. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.62. Blue Bird Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $60.45.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,024.18. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total value of $767,260.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,210,009.32. This trade represents a 5.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,392 shares of company stock valued at $7,794,083 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.