Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 823,096 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 179,500 shares during the period. Blue Bird comprises about 1.9% of Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $35,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 9.3% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 5.4% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. 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 worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 1.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 50,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 4.5% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $56.37 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.58. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.64. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $61.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.58.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,445,960. This represents a 11.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total transaction of $490,187.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,024.18. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,392 shares of company stock worth $7,342,183 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Zacks Research cut shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.58.

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.