Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Shares Purchased by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 210,040 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,530 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.65% of Blue Bird worth $8,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Blue Bird by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 46,596 shares of the company's stock worth $1,800,000 after acquiring an additional 14,853 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Blue Bird by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 782,466 shares of the company's stock worth $30,227,000 after acquiring an additional 312,493 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 195,575 shares of the company's stock worth $7,555,000 after purchasing an additional 46,237 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 45,173 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,745,000 after buying an additional 3,142 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.43 on Monday, hitting $41.25. The stock had a trading volume of 303,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 646,480. Blue Bird Co. has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $59.40. The business's fifty day moving average price is $35.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. Blue Bird's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLBD. DA Davidson cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $56.79.

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.