Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives $51.42 Average Target Price from Analysts

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.42.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLBD. Craig Hallum raised their price target on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target (up from $52.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,186,636.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Blue Bird by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 828,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,332,000 after acquiring an additional 101,482 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth $2,951,000. Sei Investments Co. purchased a new position in Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth $2,134,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Blue Bird by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,881,000 after buying an additional 25,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Blue Bird by 115.7% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 179,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,843,000 after buying an additional 96,339 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $46.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.46. Blue Bird has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 154.10% and a net margin of 6.36%. The firm had revenue of $345.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.00 million. Equities analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 2.71 EPS for the current 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.