Raymond James Financial Inc. Decreases Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 38.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 107,579 shares of the company’s stock after selling 66,972 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.34% of Blue Bird worth $3,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLBD. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 440.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Blue Bird by 5,165.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 3,874 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its stake in Blue Bird by 111.7% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Blue Bird by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 933 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.36.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other news, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,445,960. This represents a 11.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total transaction of $490,187.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,024.18. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 159,541 shares of company stock valued at $8,711,849. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Blue Bird stock opened at $58.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.33. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $60.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

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.