Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Reduces Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,166 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,235 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 0.49% of Blue Bird worth $6,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter worth $1,599,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Blue Bird by 976.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,658 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,171,000 after purchasing an additional 116,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 752,228 shares of the company's stock worth $36,084,000 after acquiring an additional 156,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 88,664 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,379,871.68. The trade was a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLBD has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.21.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $33.71. The stock had a trading volume of 888,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 666,668. Blue Bird Co. has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $59.40. The company has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average is $34.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.49.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. As a group, research analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

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.