Roth Capital Lowers Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) to Hold

Roth Capital lowered shares of Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Roth Mkm cut shares of Blue Bird from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $62.00.

Blue Bird Price Performance

Shares of BLBD opened at $42.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.18. Blue Bird has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $59.40.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.42. Blue Bird had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 116.23%. The company had revenue of $333.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $330.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Blue Bird will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blue Bird news, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,015,532.77. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Phil Horlock sold 32,159 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.93, for a total value of $1,573,539.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 299,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,669,801.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Britton Smith sold 2,508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 80,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,532.77. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,240 shares of company stock valued at $2,725,146. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth approximately $83,817,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 36.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,911,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,292,000 after purchasing an additional 505,727 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 279.5% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 415,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,587,000 after purchasing an additional 305,868 shares during the last quarter. Brightline Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blue Bird in the 4th quarter valued at $7,279,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 81.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 509,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,432,000 after purchasing an additional 229,004 shares during the last quarter. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.