Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 157,158 Shares of Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 57.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,158 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.37% of Blue Bird worth $3,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Blue Bird by 1,879.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 196,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,479,000 after buying an additional 186,799 shares during the period. Brookwood Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 1st quarter worth about $424,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,358,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,981,000 after acquiring an additional 23,569 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 96.0% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 13,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 6,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.9% in the 1st quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 26,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLBD has been the subject of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,341,983.54. This represents a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 48,769 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,024.18. This trade represents a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 137,392 shares of company stock valued at $7,794,083 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BLBD opened at $58.24 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $51.93 and its 200 day moving average is $42.53. Blue Bird Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $60.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.64 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The business’s revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 earnings per share 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.