Roth Mkm Downgrades Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) to Neutral

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Roth Mkm from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $48.00 target price on the stock. Roth Mkm’s target price suggests a potential upside of 4.37% from the stock’s previous close.

BLBD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blue Bird has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.00.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Blue Bird stock opened at $45.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 18.62, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blue Bird has a 1 year low of $17.59 and a 1 year high of $59.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.05.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. The business had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,186,636.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.08, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,926 shares in the company, valued at $4,186,636.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Ted Scartz sold 2,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.60, for a total value of $145,071.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,520,541.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,960,546. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 43.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in Blue Bird by 3.4% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 11,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 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.