Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Blue Bird Corporation has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from nine analysts, with a target price averaging $57.36.
• The company recently saw insider selling, with CFO Razvan Radulescu selling 10,000 shares and SVP Ted Scartz selling 8,877 shares, indicating a decrease in their holdings.
• Blue Bird reported earnings that exceeded estimates for the past quarter, achieving $1.19 EPS against a consensus of $0.90, while revenue increased by 19.4% year-over-year.

Shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.3571.

Several research firms have issued reports on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, SVP Ted Scartz sold 8,877 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.22, for a total value of $490,187.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 48,769 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,693,024.18. This represents a 15.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares in the company, valued at $14,445,960. The trade was a 11.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 159,541 shares of company stock valued at $8,711,849 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 44.1% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,204 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 527,289 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,370,000 after purchasing an additional 28,460 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 19,679 shares of the company's stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 305.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,296 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 4,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 89,731 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,468,000 after purchasing an additional 19,885 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company's stock.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ BLBD traded up $0.35 on Friday, hitting $58.07. The stock had a trading volume of 424,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,991. Blue Bird has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $60.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.55 and a 200-day moving average of $41.12.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.29. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 61.66%. The business had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $377.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.86 EPS for the current 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.