Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD)

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $66.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 56.21% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on BLBD. Craig Hallum upped their target price on Blue Bird from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $63.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blue Bird presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.64.

Blue Bird Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $42.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.58. Blue Bird has a one year low of $24.08 and a one year high of $59.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Insider Activity at Blue Bird

In other Blue Bird news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 19,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total transaction of $822,244.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 89,347 shares in the company, valued at $3,832,092.83. This represents a 17.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blue Bird

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 268.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,841,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,259 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 229,004 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 414.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 256,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,836,000 after acquiring an additional 206,966 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 26.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 752,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,084,000 after purchasing an additional 156,298 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 976.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 128,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,171,000 after purchasing an additional 116,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.