Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.17.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BLBD shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,990,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,990,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total value of $145,071.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,541.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 61,240 shares of company stock worth $2,960,546. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the first quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,292,000 after purchasing an additional 505,727 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,432,000 after purchasing an additional 229,004 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 279.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,587,000 after acquiring an additional 305,868 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 91.5% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 329,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,636,000 after acquiring an additional 157,468 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $54.51 on Friday. Blue Bird has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $59.40. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.09.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $333.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $330.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.