Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) Receives $49.25 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Blue Bird Co. (NASDAQ:BLBD) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.25.

Several equities analysts have commented on BLBD shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $44.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $44.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their price objective on Blue Bird from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLBD. Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Blue Bird in the 3rd quarter worth about $420,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 339,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,244,000 after buying an additional 94,770 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 245.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 509,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,867,000 after buying an additional 361,763 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings 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 worth $43,304,000 after buying an additional 160,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blue Bird by 568.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Blue Bird Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $48.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.94. Blue Bird has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $59.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $345.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.00 million. Blue Bird had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 154.10%. As a group, research analysts predict that Blue Bird will post 2.46 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.