Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires New Stake in Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 22,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $967,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Blue Bird during the 1st quarter worth about $341,000. Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in Blue Bird by 9.0% in the first quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 14,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Blue Bird by 440.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Blue Bird in the 1st quarter valued at about $352,000. Finally, Ruffer LLP raised its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 79,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 6,789 shares during the period. 93.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blue Bird from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Blue Bird in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Blue Bird from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.60.

Blue Bird Stock Down 3.2%

NASDAQ BLBD opened at $50.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.66 and a 200-day moving average of $49.87. Blue Bird Corporation has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $61.95.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 24th. The company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.35. Blue Bird had a return on equity of 62.87% and a net margin of 8.63%.The firm had revenue of $409.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $380.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Blue Bird has set its FY 2026 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blue Bird Corporation will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.