Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on BLBD. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on Blue Bird from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blue Bird from $66.00 to $63.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.21.

Blue Bird Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BLBD opened at $33.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.56. Blue Bird has a 12-month low of $30.67 and a 12-month high of $59.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.03. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 75.22% and a net margin of 8.05%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blue Bird will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blue Bird

In other news, CFO Razvan Radulescu sold 2,848 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total value of $108,565.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,379,871.68. This represents a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blue Bird

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 162.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,840,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,977,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,453 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,426,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,752,000 after acquiring an additional 25,745 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,933,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,683,000 after acquiring an additional 241,117 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,335,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,576,000 after acquiring an additional 160,248 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Blue Bird by 355.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 883,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,126,000 after acquiring an additional 689,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

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.