Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Reduces Stock Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,684 shares of the company’s stock after selling 35,003 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.35% of Blue Bird worth $4,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Blue Bird by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 43,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 169.7% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 141,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,568,000 after buying an additional 89,068 shares during the last quarter. Castellan Group purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth about $7,748,000. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 19,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 1,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 122,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,728,000 after purchasing an additional 53,185 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $36.35 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.30. Blue Bird Co. has a 1-year low of $29.78 and a 1-year high of $59.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.56.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,664 shares in the company, valued at $3,379,871.68. The trade was a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLBD. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $63.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.21.

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.