VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 39,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,683,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned approximately 0.12% of Blue Bird as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 24.3% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,402,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,760,000 after buying an additional 468,936 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Blue Bird by 1,394.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,619,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,158 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Blue Bird by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,358,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,981,000 after purchasing an additional 23,569 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Blue Bird by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 936,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,314,000 after purchasing an additional 112,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Blue Bird by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 823,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,525,000 after purchasing an additional 179,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on BLBD shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Zacks Research lowered Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.58.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $55.13 on Thursday. Blue Bird Corporation has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $61.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.43.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total transaction of $490,187.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 48,769 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,024.18. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 48,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,564,881.63. The trade was a 17.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 127,392 shares of company stock worth $7,342,183 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.