Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.21.

BLBD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $63.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Blue Bird from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Blue Bird Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $33.92 on Friday. Blue Bird has a 1 year low of $30.67 and a 1 year high of $59.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.94. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.05% and a return on equity of 75.22%. Sell-side analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,411,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Blue Bird by 37.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 52,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,009,000 after purchasing an additional 14,254 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,147,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blue Bird by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,933,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,683,000 after purchasing an additional 241,117 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 122,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,747,000 after buying an additional 26,977 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.