Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 398,527 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,100 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned 1.23% of Blue Bird worth $21,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BLBD. Covestor Ltd purchased a new position in Blue Bird during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Macroview Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 2nd quarter worth $81,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth $89,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth $120,000. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $61.17.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total value of $761,227.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 331,971 shares in the company, valued at $15,715,507.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total transaction of $761,227.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 331,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,715,507.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $120,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,990,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,240 shares of company stock worth $2,960,546 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $51.13 on Thursday. Blue Bird Co. has a 12-month low of $17.59 and a 12-month high of $59.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The firm had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

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.