Sei Investments Co. Acquires 28,139 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 172,696 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,139 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $6,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the third quarter worth about $56,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 4,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,379,871.68. This trade represents a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.21.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $32.37 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.28. Blue Bird Co. has a 1-year low of $30.67 and a 1-year high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share 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, 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.