Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.25.

BLBD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. 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. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLBD opened at $50.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Blue Bird has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $59.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.74 and its 200-day moving average is $37.64.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 154.10% and a net margin of 6.36%. The firm had revenue of $345.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.00 million. Equities research analysts predict that Blue Bird will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in Blue Bird during the 1st quarter valued at about $83,817,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 8.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,028,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,304,000 after purchasing an additional 160,233 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blue Bird by 36.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after acquiring an additional 505,727 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Blue Bird by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 828,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,332,000 after buying an additional 101,482 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Blue Bird by 245.7% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 509,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,867,000 after buying an additional 361,763 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.