Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Shares Bought by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,335,122 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 160,248 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 4.16% of Blue Bird worth $51,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,461 shares of the company's stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,262 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 4,729 shares of the company's stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blue Bird Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.22. 117,783 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 636,579. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $36.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.47. Blue Bird Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $358.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $348.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLBD. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of 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 reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird has a consensus 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.