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

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,390,000 shares, an increase of 7.7% from the August 15th total of 2,220,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 582,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $50.19 on Tuesday. Blue Bird has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The company had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.93, for a total value of $1,573,539.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,669,801.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.93, for a total value of $1,573,539.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,669,801.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 83,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,990,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,960,546 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in Blue Bird during the first quarter valued at about $2,134,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 104.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 25,102 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 33.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 63,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 15,900 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after purchasing an additional 505,727 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 2,177.4% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 55,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 52,912 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Blue Bird Company 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.