Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Takes Position in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 42,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,439,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLBD. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 30.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 2,090.5% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 3,303 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 12.5% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 12,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 2nd quarter worth $3,799,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.17.

Blue Bird Stock Up 4.4%

BLBD opened at $77.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.61. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52 week low of $42.95 and a 52 week high of $83.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.12. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 53.68%. The company had revenue of $352.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Corporation will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blue Bird Profile

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD) is a leading manufacturer of buses and mass transportation vehicles headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia. The company’s core business encompasses the design, engineering, and production of school buses and activity buses, with a product lineup that includes conventional (Type C) models, transit-style (Type D) models and specialty configurations for special-needs and activity transport. In recent years, Blue Bird has expanded its offerings to include zero-emission electric school buses, reflecting its commitment to advanced propulsion technologies and environmental sustainability.

Established in 1927, Blue Bird has built a legacy of safety and reliability in student transportation.