Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 9,625 Shares of Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 13.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,976 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,625 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.20% of Blue Bird worth $2,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLBD. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 52,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,000 after buying an additional 14,254 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 5,165.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 3,874 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 3.7% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 45,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after buying an additional 1,589 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 21.1% in the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 41,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after buying an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 3.2% in the first quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 65,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blue Bird news, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,445,960. The trade was a 11.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were 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 owned 48,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 137,392 shares of company stock worth $7,794,083. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLBD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised 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 report on Saturday, August 9th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.79.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of BLBD opened at $55.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.64. Blue Bird Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $61.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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