Schroder Investment Management Group Buys 10,624 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,734 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,624 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.25% of Blue Bird worth $3,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth about $132,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $87,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $3,349,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $9,746,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Blue Bird by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 306,286 shares of the company's stock worth $11,832,000 after acquiring an additional 5,109 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLBD. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.21.

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Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 88,664 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,379,871.68. The trade was a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $32.85. 44,777 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 662,880. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.73. 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 $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.23.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.