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

Roth Mkm cut shares of Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $48.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Blue Bird from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $62.00.

Blue Bird Trading Up 0.5 %

Blue Bird stock opened at $42.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.60. Blue Bird has a 1 year low of $17.59 and a 1 year high of $59.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 116.23% and a net margin of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blue Bird will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total transaction of $761,227.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,715,507.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of Blue Bird stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.81, for a total value of $124,923.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 80,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,532.77. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phil Horlock sold 16,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.34, for a total transaction of $761,227.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,971 shares in the company, valued at $15,715,507.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,240 shares of company stock worth $2,725,146 over the last 90 days. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blue Bird

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLBD. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 36.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after buying an additional 505,727 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,432,000 after buying an additional 229,004 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 279.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,587,000 after buying an additional 305,868 shares during the period. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in Blue Bird by 91.5% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 329,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,636,000 after buying an additional 157,468 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.