MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,367 shares of the company’s stock after selling 312 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Blue Bird worth $627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Blue Bird by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,402,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,760,000 after acquiring an additional 468,936 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 valued at $52,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,158 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 valued at $43,981,000 after acquiring an additional 23,569 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Blue Bird by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 782,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,227,000 after acquiring an additional 312,493 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 236.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 774,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,906,000 after acquiring an additional 544,248 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $385,163.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,794 shares in the company, valued at $2,341,983.54. The trade was a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,024.18. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 159,541 shares of company stock worth $8,711,849 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLBD. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.36.

Blue Bird Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $58.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.61. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $60.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.37.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $377.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blue Bird 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.