Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Short Interest Up 7.7% in August

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,186,636.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $14,669,801.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,960,546. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. Quarry LP raised its position in Blue Bird by 43.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Blue Bird in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in Blue Bird by 22.5% during the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd bought a new position in Blue Bird during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum lifted their target price 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. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target 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, Bank of America increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Blue Bird stock traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $51.24. 468,192 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 558,728. The company has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.77. Blue Bird has a 52-week low of $17.59 and a 52-week high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. The company had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

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.