Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives $61.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

BLBD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Blue Bird in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Roth Capital downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total transaction of $120,384.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,990,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $120,384.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 83,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,990,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the company’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 value of $1,573,539.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,669,801.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,240 shares of company stock worth $2,725,146. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blue Bird by 14.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blue Bird by 41.0% in the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 3,681 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Blue Bird in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Blue Bird in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Blue Bird by 13.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 5,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of Blue Bird stock opened at $45.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird has a 12 month low of $17.59 and a 12 month high of $59.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $48.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.56.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced 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 return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.