Insider Buying: Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Director Purchases 400 Shares of Stock

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Director Daniel Mark Thau bought 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $51.05 per share, for a total transaction of $20,420.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,353.95. This represents a 7.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Blue Bird Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.52. The company had a trading volume of 123,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 531,475. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.95. Blue Bird Corporation has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $61.95.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 24th. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.35. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 62.87%. The firm had revenue of $409.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $380.37 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLBD shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Blue Bird from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in Blue Bird by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Blue Bird by 0.7% in the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.0% in the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 34,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,483,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 67,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,856,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blue Bird by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.