Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,245 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,657 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.12% of Blue Bird worth $1,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Blue Bird by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 4,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 43,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 14,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson cut their target price on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.36.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $35.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.26. 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 $30.04 and a 12-month high of $59.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 75.22% and a net margin of 8.05%. As a group, equities 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.