Lazard Asset Management LLC Buys 238,379 Shares of Blue Bird Corporation $BLBD

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ:BLBD) by 362.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,196 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 238,379 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.96% of Blue Bird worth $17,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Blue Bird by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Blue Bird by 2,090.5% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 3,303 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Blue Bird by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 12,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Blue Bird during the second quarter valued at about $3,799,000. Institutional investors own 93.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLBD. Roth Capital initiated coverage on Blue Bird in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded Blue Bird from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Freedom Capital lowered Blue Bird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. DA Davidson set a $86.00 price target on Blue Bird in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Blue Bird from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blue Bird has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.17.

Blue Bird Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of BLBD stock opened at $72.32 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.37 and a 200-day moving average of $63.87. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.35. Blue Bird Corporation has a 52-week low of $42.95 and a 52-week high of $83.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.12. Blue Bird had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 53.68%. The business had revenue of $352.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Blue Bird Corporation will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Blue Bird

Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD) is a leading manufacturer of buses and mass transportation vehicles headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia. The company’s core business encompasses the design, engineering, and production of school buses and activity buses, with a product lineup that includes conventional (Type C) models, transit-style (Type D) models and specialty configurations for special-needs and activity transport. In recent years, Blue Bird has expanded its offerings to include zero-emission electric school buses, reflecting its commitment to advanced propulsion technologies and environmental sustainability.

Established in 1927, Blue Bird has built a legacy of safety and reliability in student transportation.