Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) saw a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 898,100 shares, a drop of 30.9% from the May 15th total of 1,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 541,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of BLBD stock traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $55.79. 311,455 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 511,634. Blue Bird has a 12 month low of $17.59 and a 12 month high of $59.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.62.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 154.10%. The firm had revenue of $345.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.00 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $49.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter valued at $83,817,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,028,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,304,000 after buying an additional 160,233 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,292,000 after buying an additional 505,727 shares in the last quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP now owns 1,173,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,045,000 after buying an additional 60,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 828,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,332,000 after buying an additional 101,482 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.