Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives $60.58 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.5833.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BLBD shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $385,163.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 40,794 shares in the company, valued at $2,341,983.54. This trade represents a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total transaction of $767,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,210,009.32. The trade was a 5.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 127,392 shares of company stock worth $7,342,183 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Advisors lifted its position in Blue Bird by 2.6% in the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 0.7% in the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 9.3% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 1.0% in the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 34,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 5.4% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $56.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Blue Bird has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $61.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.97.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The business had revenue of $398.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current 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.