Brokerages Set Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) PT at $34.58

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.42.

BLBD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC initiated coverage on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Blue Bird from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Blue Bird

In other news, major shareholder Asp Bb Holdings Llc sold 4,042,650 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.90, for a total transaction of $133,003,185.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total transaction of $1,450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 449,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,044,548. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Asp Bb Holdings Llc sold 4,042,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.90, for a total transaction of $133,003,185.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,257,597 shares of company stock worth $139,735,973. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 220.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at $89,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 568.8% in the third quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in Blue Bird in the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Price Performance

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $34.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.10. Blue Bird has a 52-week low of $17.43 and a 52-week high of $39.01. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.36.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $317.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.00 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 223.85%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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.