Britton Smith Sells 2,508 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Stock

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total value of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 80,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,532.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Britton Smith also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 19th, Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of Blue Bird stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $50.22 on Friday. Blue Bird Co. has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $59.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.08 and a 200 day moving average of $45.46. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $333.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays raised their price target on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter valued at about $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,292,000 after buying an additional 505,727 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,432,000 after buying an additional 229,004 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,587,000 after buying an additional 305,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in Blue Bird by 91.5% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 329,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,636,000 after purchasing an additional 157,468 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.