Trexquant Investment LP Invests $6.61 Million in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 170,996 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,606,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blue Bird during the fourth quarter valued at about $87,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Blue Bird during the fourth quarter worth about $132,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth about $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $32.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.04, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Blue Bird Co. has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. Equities research analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BLBD shares. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.21.

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.