Northern Trust Corp Has $11.82 Million Holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 305,883 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 29,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.95% of Blue Bird worth $11,816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Encompass More Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter valued at $1,376,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter valued at $354,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter valued at $315,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $93,752,000 after acquiring an additional 25,745 shares during the period. Finally, Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 63,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,434,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of Blue Bird stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 479,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 643,044. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Blue Bird Co. has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $59.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.01. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. The company had revenue of $358.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLBD. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their price target on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.