Ritholtz Wealth Management Grows Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 81.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,877 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,045 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management owned 0.06% of Blue Bird worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the first quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blue Bird by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,292,000 after buying an additional 505,727 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,587,000 after buying an additional 305,868 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,432,000 after buying an additional 229,004 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 2nd quarter worth $11,788,000. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $44.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird Co. has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $59.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.60.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $333.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLBD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Roth Mkm downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total transaction of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 80,617 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,532.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,669,801.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total transaction of $124,923.48. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 80,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,532.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,240 shares of company stock worth $2,725,146. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.