Federated Hermes Inc. Increases Position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 115.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 179,623 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 96,339 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.56% of Blue Bird worth $4,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLBD. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 25,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 568.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 214,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,585,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on Blue Bird in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $35.42.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $33.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.25. Blue Bird Co. has a 52 week low of $17.49 and a 52 week high of $39.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.36.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 223.85% and a net margin of 5.04%. The company had revenue of $317.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.00 million. Research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird Co. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, major shareholder Asp Bb Holdings Llc sold 4,042,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.90, for a total transaction of $133,003,185.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, major shareholder Asp Bb Holdings Llc sold 4,042,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.90, for a total transaction of $133,003,185.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $2,325,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 374,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,619,172. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,257,597 shares of company stock valued at $139,735,973. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.