Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Cuts Stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC trimmed its stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 73.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 29,374 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,310 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned about 0.09% of Blue Bird worth $951,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in Blue Bird by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blue Bird by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $87,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 5,165.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.79.

Blue Bird Trading Down 3.7%

BLBD opened at $43.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $41.34 and its 200-day moving average is $37.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $55.60.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $358.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.23 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 64.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $451,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 58,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,630,193.57. This trade represents a 14.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,289 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $554,151.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 270,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,290,942.20. This trade represents a 4.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,149 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,666 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.