Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 13,262 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 765,490 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,262 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $29,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in Blue Bird in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,599,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 8.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 725,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,798,000 after buying an additional 56,449 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Blue Bird by 976.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,171,000 after buying an additional 116,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 4,295 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BLBD shares. 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 upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Two 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 a consensus target price of $58.21.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $33.71 on Friday. Blue Bird Co. has a 52-week low of $30.04 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.20 and a 200 day moving average of $38.62.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $108,565.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Blue Bird

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.