First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $28.60.

First Busey Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $26.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.15. First Busey has a 52 week low of $17.51 and a 52 week high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.65 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. As a group, research analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $389,328.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,092,960.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP John Joseph Powers sold 6,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $143,358.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,107,088.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $389,328.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,092,960.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 264 shares of company stock valued at $5,319 and sold 22,790 shares valued at $536,477. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 5.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,359,080 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,686,000 after buying an additional 72,800 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 3,072.7% in the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 33,800 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of First Busey by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,159,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,895,000 after acquiring an additional 212,782 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in First Busey by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 24,314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in First Busey by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 17,013 shares of the bank’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,180 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and FirsTech.