Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 877,153 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 40.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,309,010 shares of the company’s stock after selling 877,153 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 4.05% of Blue Bird worth $70,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 47.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 81,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after purchasing an additional 26,228 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the 2nd quarter valued at $113,000. Seven Eight Capital LP grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 347.5% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 36,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,979,000 after buying an additional 28,539 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 81.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,432,000 after purchasing an additional 229,004 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 30.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,405,000 after purchasing an additional 76,036 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total transaction of $145,071.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,541.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total value of $145,071.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,520,541.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total value of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 80,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,015,532.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,240 shares of company stock worth $2,960,546 in the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BLBD stock opened at $54.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird Co. has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Craig Hallum upped their price target on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

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.