Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Shares Up 4.7% – Still a Buy?

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD)’s stock price shot up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $43.28 and last traded at $43.24. 108,925 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 572,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLBD. Roth Mkm downgraded Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Capital downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Blue Bird Trading Up 4.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.53 and a 200-day moving average of $47.34.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $333.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blue Bird Co. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total transaction of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 80,617 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,532.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total transaction of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 80,617 shares in the company, valued at $4,015,532.77. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total transaction of $761,227.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 331,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,715,507.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,240 shares of company stock worth $2,725,146 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the first quarter worth $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% during the first 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. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the first 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. Brightline Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at $7,279,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 81.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,432,000 after purchasing an additional 229,004 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is currently 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.