Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Buys 7,180 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,230 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.13% of Blue Bird worth $1,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased 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 buying an additional 448 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC increased 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 buying an additional 500 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased 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 buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Up 1.7%

Blue Bird stock opened at $41.57 on Wednesday. Blue Bird Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BLBD. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of 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 restated a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.