First Trust Advisors LP Cuts Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

First Trust Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 755,468 shares of the company’s stock after selling 57,686 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 2.38% of Blue Bird worth $43,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter valued at about $98,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 184.0% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 30.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the third quarter worth approximately $167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLBD. Zacks Research cut shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Blue Bird from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.20.

Blue Bird Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $53.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.40. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $62.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $333.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $325.74 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 57.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. Analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 3,925 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.98, for a total transaction of $239,346.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 42,255 shares in the company, valued at $2,576,709.90. This trade represents a 8.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey Scott Sanfrey sold 5,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.54, for a total transaction of $303,939.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 39,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,283,703.94. The trade was a 11.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blue Bird Profile

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD) is a leading manufacturer of buses and mass transportation vehicles headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia. The company’s core business encompasses the design, engineering, and production of school buses and activity buses, with a product lineup that includes conventional (Type C) models, transit-style (Type D) models and specialty configurations for special-needs and activity transport. In recent years, Blue Bird has expanded its offerings to include zero-emission electric school buses, reflecting its commitment to advanced propulsion technologies and environmental sustainability.

Established in 1927, Blue Bird has built a legacy of safety and reliability in student transportation.