Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) PT Raised to $66.00

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $60.00 to $66.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 34.56% from the company’s current price.

BLBD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.00.

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.0 %

Blue Bird stock traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $49.05. 620,889 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 570,876. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.26. Blue Bird has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.63.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.00 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 154.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLBD. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Blue Bird by 81.7% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,405,000 after buying an additional 76,036 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the second quarter valued at approximately $510,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Blue Bird during the second quarter worth $81,000. Finally, Nicholas Investment Partners LP purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the second quarter worth $2,865,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.