Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Price Target Raised to $70.00

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) had its target price boosted by Needham & Company LLC from $53.00 to $70.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Blue Bird from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.42.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $51.36 on Monday. Blue Bird has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $61.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.62.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $398.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.64 million. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 61.66% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business’s revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blue Bird news, Director Phil Horlock sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 240,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,445,960. This represents a 11.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 6,709 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.41, for a total transaction of $385,163.69. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 40,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,341,983.54. The trade was a 14.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 117,392 shares of company stock valued at $6,810,083. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 9,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 40,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 34,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.