Sei Investments Co. Acquires 26,228 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 47.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 81,881 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,228 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $4,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLBD. Covestor Ltd bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the first quarter worth $29,000. Macroview Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the second quarter worth $29,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the second quarter worth $81,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the second quarter worth $113,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the first quarter worth $120,000. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLBD. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Blue Bird Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of BLBD stock opened at $46.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird Co. has a 1 year low of $17.59 and a 1 year high of $59.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $49.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.61.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. The firm had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $120,384.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,990,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,186,636.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $120,384.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 83,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,990,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,240 shares of company stock worth $2,960,546. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.