Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Blue Bird Corporation by 4.4%, bringing its ownership to approximately 7.23%, valued at around $75.1 million.
• Blue Bird received multiple analyst upgrades, including a shift to a "strong-buy" rating from Wall Street Zen and a target price increase to $53 from Needham & Company.
• Blue Bird's latest earnings report showed a profit of $1.19 per share, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 19.4% revenue growth year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,320,353 shares of the company's stock after selling 106,559 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.23% of Blue Bird worth $75,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 440.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,442 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,262 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 5,165.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,949 shares of the company's stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 3,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 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 report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.36.

Blue Bird Price Performance

BLBD traded up $0.77 on Thursday, hitting $58.94. 268,561 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 568,801. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $47.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.50. Blue Bird Corporation has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $60.45. 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 (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The business 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.21, for a total value of $532,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 48,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,564,881.63. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,832 shares of company stock worth $7,559,425 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.