Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, an increase of 75.5% from the June 30th total of 1,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 631,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLBD shares. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.42.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

BLBD stock traded up $2.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.87. The stock had a trading volume of 356,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 666,809. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.68. Blue Bird has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.52. The firm 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%. Analysts predict that Blue Bird will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Blue Bird by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 828,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,332,000 after purchasing an additional 101,482 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,951,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,134,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 25,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 115.7% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 179,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 96,339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.