Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $61.17.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $51.13 on Monday. Blue Bird has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40.

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

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.93, for a total value of $1,573,539.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 299,812 shares in the company, valued at $14,669,801.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blue Bird news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.93, for a total transaction of $1,573,539.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,669,801.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,960,546. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in Blue Bird in the first quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Blue Bird by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after acquiring an additional 505,727 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Blue Bird by 279.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,587,000 after acquiring an additional 305,868 shares during the last quarter. Brightline Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at $7,279,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,432,000 after purchasing an additional 229,004 shares in the last quarter. 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.