Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Stock Position Increased by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 305,883 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.95% of Blue Bird worth $11,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLBD. Encompass More Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth $1,376,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth $354,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth $315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Blue Bird by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,752,000 after purchasing an additional 25,745 shares during the period. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Blue Bird by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 63,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,434,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLBD. StockNews.com lowered Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.79.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.1%

Blue Bird stock opened at $40.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43. Blue Bird Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 75.22% and a net margin of 8.05%. The company had revenue of $358.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current 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.