Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Shares Up 3.5%

Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) shot up 3.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $56.44 and last traded at $56.29. 23,480 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 96% from the average session volume of 536,498 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLBD has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.25.

Blue Bird Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.40 and a 200 day moving average of $37.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 154.10% and a net margin of 6.36%. The business had revenue of $345.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.00 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLBD. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in Blue Bird in the first quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after buying an additional 505,727 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 245.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 509,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,867,000 after buying an additional 361,763 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,587,000 after buying an additional 305,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brightline Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,279,000. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.