Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.60.

A number of analysts have issued reports on BLBD shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, November 25th.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Blue Bird by 1,394.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,619,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,423,000 after buying an additional 1,511,158 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Blue Bird by 185.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 925,852 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,283,000 after acquiring an additional 601,690 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 383.1% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 425,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,471,000 after acquiring an additional 337,196 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 3rd quarter valued at $14,134,000. Finally, New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 7,161.9% in the 1st quarter. New Vernon Capital Holdings II LLC now owns 231,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,152,000 after purchasing an additional 228,322 shares in the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

Shares of BLBD opened at $50.53 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Blue Bird has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $61.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $52.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.24.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $409.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $380.37 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 62.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.