New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 2,254 Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter worth about $3,349,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,746,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 306,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,832,000 after acquiring an additional 5,109 shares in the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 105.7% during the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 67,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 34,834 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,027,000. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value 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 $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $31.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Blue Bird Co. has a 12 month low of $30.41 and a 12 month high of $59.40. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.05.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com raised Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.21.

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.