Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Given New $53.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has raised its price target for Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from $49.00 to $53.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.07% from the stock's previous close, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• Despite a positive outlook from Needham, Wall Street Zen downgraded Blue Bird from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, highlighting mixed sentiments among analysts as three have rated it hold while six have given it buy ratings.
• The company reported earnings of $1.19 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 19.4% increase in revenue year-over-year, with strong performance metrics such as a net margin of 7.97%.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD - Free Report) had its price target upped by Needham & Company LLC from $49.00 to $53.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock.

BLBD has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Blue Bird from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Blue Bird from $67.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.36.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of BLBD stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.74. The company had a trading volume of 338,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 558,512. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $43.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Blue Bird has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $60.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.02, for a total transaction of $42,014.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 47,503 shares in the company, valued at $2,851,130.06. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $1,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 240,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,445,960. The trade was a 11.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,849 shares of company stock valued at $3,743,780. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 0.7% during the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,132 shares of the company's stock worth $1,732,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the second quarter worth about $376,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 11.0% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 7,423 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 355.7% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 49,533 shares of the company's stock worth $2,138,000 after buying an additional 38,664 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Advisors boosted its position in shares of Blue Bird by 2.6% during the second quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,789 shares of the company's stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.