Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Short Interest Update

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a growth of 19.1% from the May 31st total of 898,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 547,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd acquired a new stake in Blue Bird during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 220.1% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 1st quarter worth $120,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth $89,000. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blue Bird Trading Down 4.4 %

BLBD stock traded down $2.38 during trading on Monday, hitting $51.47. The company had a trading volume of 433,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,245. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.63. Blue Bird has a 52-week low of $17.59 and a 52-week high of $59.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $345.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.00 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 154.10%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BLBD. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.25.

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.