Raymond James Financial Inc. Cuts Holdings in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Blue Bird Corporation by 38.4% during the first quarter, owning around 0.34% of the company at a value of $3.48 million after selling 66,972 shares.
• Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings in Blue Bird, with US Bancorp DE significantly increasing its stake by 440.1%.
• Blue Bird Corporation received upgrades from analysts, moving from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, with one firm raising the target price from $49 to $53.

Raymond James Financial Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 38.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 107,579 shares of the company's stock after selling 66,972 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of Blue Bird worth $3,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 440.1% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,442 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 5,165.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,949 shares of the company's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 111.7% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,247 shares of the company's stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,489 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total value of $767,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,210,009.32. This represents a 5.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $385,163.69. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,341,983.54. The trade was a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,392 shares of company stock valued at $7,794,083 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $58.26. The stock had a trading volume of 466,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,899. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Blue Bird Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $60.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.94 and a 200-day moving average of $41.92.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One investment 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.36.

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.