First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) to Issue $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 8th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the bank on Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th.

First Busey has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% per year over the last three years. First Busey has a dividend payout ratio of 41.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect First Busey to earn $2.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $26.03 on Thursday. First Busey has a 1 year low of $17.51 and a 1 year 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. The firm had revenue of $116.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.65 million. Research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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