Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Blue Bird Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from nine brokerages, with two holding, six buying, and one strongly buying the stock.
• The average 12-month target price for Blue Bird's stock is currently $58.79, reflecting recent price objectives raised by analysts.
• Blue Bird reported strong earnings, with $1.19 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates and showing a revenue increase of 19.4% year-over-year.

Shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, 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 $58.7857.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Blue Bird from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Blue Bird from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of BLBD opened at $59.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Blue Bird has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $61.95. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.62. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $53.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.45.

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

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In related news, Director Phil Horlock sold 13,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.02, for a total transaction of $767,260.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,210,009.32. The trade was a 5.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total value of $385,163.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 40,794 shares in the company, valued at $2,341,983.54. The trade was a 14.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,392 shares of company stock worth $7,794,083 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 58.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 49,165 shares of the company's stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 131.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,077 shares of the company's stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,107 shares of the company's stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 123,989 shares of the company's stock worth $5,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,279 shares of the company's stock worth $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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