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

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

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

Blue Bird Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $52.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.63. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.25. Blue Bird has a 12-month low of $17.59 and a 12-month high of $59.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of Blue Bird 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Macroview Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 220.1% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 887 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Blue Bird during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.