North Star Investment Management Corp. Sells 53,400 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

North Star Investment Management Corp. cut its stake in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 32.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,776 shares of the company's stock after selling 53,400 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. owned 0.35% of Blue Bird worth $3,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Blue Bird by 162.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,840,198 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,453 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blue Bird by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,752,000 after purchasing an additional 25,745 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Blue Bird by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,933,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,683,000 after purchasing an additional 241,117 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Blue Bird by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,335,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,576,000 after purchasing an additional 160,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Blue Bird by 355.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 883,404 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,126,000 after purchasing an additional 689,394 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, Director Phil Horlock sold 8,860 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.04, for a total transaction of $363,614.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 270,766 shares in the company, valued at $11,112,236.64. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

BLBD traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.80. The stock had a trading volume of 318,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 635,435. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.40. Blue Bird Co. has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $57.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $358.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.23 million. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 75.22% and a net margin of 8.05%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BLBD. Wall Street Zen cut Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $56.79.

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.