Short Interest in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Drops By 10.5%

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a decrease of 10.5% from the September 30th total of 2,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 620,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total value of $145,071.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,541.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total transaction of $145,071.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,541.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total transaction of $761,227.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,715,507.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,725,146 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 43.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 3.4% during 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 period. Macroview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 707 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Roth Capital downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. 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 research note on Thursday, October 3rd. BTIG Research started coverage on Blue Bird in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.00.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.91. 106,719 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 579,292. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.99. Blue Bird has a 12 month low of $17.59 and a 12 month high of $59.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.00 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.