Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Has $3.83 Million Holdings in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold 157,158 shares of Blue Bird Corporation, reducing its stake by 57.0%, leaving it with 118,346 shares valued at approximately $3.83 million.
• Needham & Company raised its price target for Blue Bird shares from $49.00 to $53.00, classifying the stock as a "buy," while several analysts have upgraded their ratings, with a consensus target price of $58.79.
• Insider selling occurred, with CFO Razvan Radulescu and SVP Ted Scartz selling a combined 15,586 shares, representing significant declines in their ownership percentages.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 57.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,346 shares of the company's stock after selling 157,158 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.37% of Blue Bird worth $3,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,274 shares of the company's stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Blue Bird by 30.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the company's stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Blue Bird by 1.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 50,308 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,628,000 after buying an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 7.2% during the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 12,597 shares of the company's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total transaction of $767,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,210,009.32. This represents a 5.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of Blue Bird 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,024.18. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 137,392 shares of company stock worth $7,794,083. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Stock Up 3.3%

Blue Bird stock traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $60.15. The stock had a trading volume of 374,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 522,218. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.62. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $52.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.72. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $60.45.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Blue Bird's revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.