Man Group plc Cuts Holdings in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Man Group plc decreased its position in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 136,257 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,047 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Blue Bird were worth $5,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 976.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,171,000 after buying an additional 116,707 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 34,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 7,772 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth about $262,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth about $315,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $40.82 on Wednesday. Blue Bird Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $59.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.43. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $35.40 and a 200 day moving average of $37.62.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $358.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $348.23 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. Blue Bird’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLBD. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 for the company 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.