Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.21.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BLBD shares. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $63.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Craig Hallum increased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 19,171 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total transaction of $822,244.19. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 89,347 shares in the company, valued at $3,832,092.83. This represents a 17.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLBD. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 162.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,840,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,453 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,752,000 after purchasing an additional 25,745 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,933,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,683,000 after purchasing an additional 241,117 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,335,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,576,000 after purchasing an additional 160,248 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 355.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 883,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,126,000 after purchasing an additional 689,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $34.61 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.21. The stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.72, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.56. Blue Bird has a 1-year low of $29.78 and a 1-year high of $59.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. On average, research analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.