ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Blue Bird by 1,394.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,619,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,423,000 after buying an additional 1,511,158 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,402,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,760,000 after purchasing an additional 468,936 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 1st quarter valued at about $8,298,000. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 7,161.9% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 231,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,152,000 after purchasing an additional 228,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1,879.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 196,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,479,000 after purchasing an additional 186,799 shares in the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $60.58.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $53.93 on Friday. Blue Bird Corporation has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $61.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.57.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total value of $767,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,210,009.32. The trade was a 5.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $385,163.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 40,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,341,983.54. The trade was a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 137,392 shares of company stock worth $7,794,083. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.