Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 88,297 Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 88,297 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,411,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.27% of Blue Bird at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 976.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,658 shares of the company's stock worth $6,171,000 after purchasing an additional 116,707 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 75.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,420 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 641,265 shares of the company's stock worth $24,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,345 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 4,729 shares of the company's stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 122,385 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,728,000 after acquiring an additional 53,185 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BLBD shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $56.79.

Blue Bird Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD traded up $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.03. 372,432 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 636,878. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.49. Blue Bird Co. has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $59.40. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43.

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