Bank of America Corp DE Buys 312,493 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 66.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 782,466 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 312,493 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 2.44% of Blue Bird worth $30,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,262 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Blue Bird by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,420 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blue Bird by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,000. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC bought a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at about $123,000. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $40.82 on Friday. 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 cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43. Blue Bird Co. has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $59.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.67.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $358.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.23 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLBD shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $56.79.

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.

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