Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Roth Mkm raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $43.00. Roth Mkm currently has a buy rating on the stock. Blue Bird traded as high as $47.98 and last traded at $47.54, with a volume of 358134 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.54.

BLBD has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Blue Bird from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $37.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 57,562 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $1,899,546.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,893,796. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 57,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $1,899,546.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,893,796. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gurminder S. Bedi sold 8,719 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.45, for a total value of $274,212.55. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $594,279.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,115,159 shares of company stock worth $135,385,519. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Blue Bird by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,028,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,304,000 after purchasing an additional 160,233 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Blue Bird by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,206,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,754,000 after purchasing an additional 144,697 shares in the last quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP now owns 1,173,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,045,000 after buying an additional 60,628 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Blue Bird by 14.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.52. Blue Bird had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 223.85%. The firm had revenue of $317.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Co. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

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.