Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Short Interest Up 21.8% in September

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,960,000 shares, an increase of 21.8% from the September 15th total of 2,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 607,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $2,520,541.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,990,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total transaction of $145,071.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,520,541.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,240 shares of company stock worth $2,725,146 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the first quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,292,000 after acquiring an additional 505,727 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% during 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. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,587,000 after purchasing an additional 305,868 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 91.5% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 329,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,636,000 after purchasing an additional 157,468 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Blue Bird stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 569,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,640. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $59.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.53.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.00 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blue Bird will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on BLBD shares. Barclays raised 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. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com lowered Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Roth Capital downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.00.

Blue Bird Company 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.