Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD Shares Sold by Boston Partners

Key Points

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Boston Partners reduced its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 38.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,221 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,459 shares during the period. Boston Partners' holdings in Blue Bird were worth $234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 23,513 shares of the company's stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 6,600 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,365 shares of the company's stock worth $2,293,000 after buying an additional 2,357 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $6,743,000. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 11,754 shares of the company's stock worth $454,000 after buying an additional 3,519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company's stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total value of $490,187.94. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,445,960. The trade was a 11.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 139,832 shares of company stock valued at $7,559,425. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blue Bird Price Performance

BLBD stock traded up $0.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $55.31. The stock had a trading volume of 752,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,057. The company's 50 day moving average price is $46.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.86. Blue Bird Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $60.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.58.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The firm had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BLBD. Barclays decreased 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.36.

Blue Bird Company 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.