Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,206,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,754,000 after purchasing an additional 144,697 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 828,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,332,000 after purchasing an additional 101,482 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.42.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

BLBD traded up $0.84 on Wednesday, hitting $52.21. 177,017 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 556,358. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.63. Blue Bird Co. has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $59.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $52.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 154.10%. The firm had revenue of $345.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.00 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Co. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.