Short Interest in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Rises By 9.9%

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the September 15th total of 974,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 305,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in First Busey by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,719,000 after buying an additional 9,789 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in First Busey by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,537,000 after buying an additional 57,392 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in First Busey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 3,072.7% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 33,800 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in First Busey by 35.3% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 39,888 shares of the bank’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 10,401 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 424,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 217,018. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a fifty-two week low of $17.51 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97.

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

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is 48.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BUSE shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens lowered shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.80.

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.