First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) EVP Buys $20,542.20 in Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) EVP John Joseph Powers purchased 1,005 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.44 per share, for a total transaction of $20,542.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,241.44. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

First Busey Trading Down 1.0 %

BUSE stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.34. 204,873 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 162,617. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $16.26 and a one year high of $25.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.73.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BUSE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. Plancorp LLC increased its position in First Busey by 742.9% during the third quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,320,225 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,596 shares during the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the fourth quarter worth about $11,053,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 565.7% in the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 402,097 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,980,000 after purchasing an additional 341,692 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 14.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 523,703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,066,000 after purchasing an additional 66,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,537,000 after purchasing an additional 57,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.