First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd.

First Busey Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $22.36 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.75 and a 200-day moving average of $22.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 0.78. First Busey has a 52 week low of $18.40 and a 52 week high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 8.32%. The business had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 4,000 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.00 per share, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 76,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,496. The trade was a 5.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Caple purchased 1,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.60 per share, for a total transaction of $25,380.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,394.40. This represents a 35.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 13,125 shares of company stock worth $286,148. Corporate insiders own 3.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 23.7% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 2.6% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 2.7% in the first quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 20,633 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Busey by 56.4% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,251 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently 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.