Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Invests $2.03 Million in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 52,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,027,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 268.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,841,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,259 shares during the period. Castellan Group bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,748,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $6,743,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 26.2% during the third 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 period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 116,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLBD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped 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. StockNews.com cut Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of BLBD stock opened at $32.93 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.74 and its 200 day moving average is $40.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.58. Blue Bird Co. has a 52-week low of $30.67 and a 52-week 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal 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.