Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,426,912 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,745 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of Blue Bird worth $93,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 26.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 752,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,084,000 after acquiring an additional 156,298 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 725,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,798,000 after purchasing an additional 56,449 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in Blue Bird by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 641,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,345 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 2.4% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 327,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 318,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,292,000 after buying an additional 9,935 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $108,565.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,664 shares in the company, valued at $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BLBD. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.21.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of BLBD opened at $33.91 on Thursday. Blue Bird Co. has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $59.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 75.22% and a net margin of 8.05%. On average, analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blue Bird 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.