Blair William & Co. IL Sells 17,388 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 341,005 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,388 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $13,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLBD. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Blue Bird in the 3rd quarter valued at $492,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 34.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 308,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,784,000 after acquiring an additional 79,129 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in Blue Bird in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Blue Bird by 37.3% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 4,515 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 268.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,841,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BLBD shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.21.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 directly owns 88,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blue Bird Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $32.93 on Friday. Blue Bird Co. has a 52-week low of $30.67 and a 52-week high of $59.40. 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 cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.48.

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

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.