Gotham Asset Management LLC Purchases 22,574 Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 58.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,913 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,574 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $2,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLBD. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 162.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,840,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,453 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 355.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 883,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,126,000 after purchasing an additional 689,394 shares during the last quarter. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 540.2% in the 4th quarter. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC now owns 540,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,877,000 after purchasing an additional 456,015 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 66.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 782,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,227,000 after purchasing an additional 312,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EVR Research LP boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 173.3% in the 4th quarter. EVR Research LP now owns 410,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,838,000 after purchasing an additional 260,000 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

BLBD opened at $40.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $34.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.69. Blue Bird Co. has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $59.40. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blue Bird currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.