Piper Sandler Begins Coverage on First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $30.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Busey in a research note on Monday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE stock opened at $24.36 on Tuesday. First Busey has a 1-year low of $18.40 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.57. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

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

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Steven W. Caple purchased 1,175 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $25,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,394.40. This trade represents a 35.24% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $119,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 72,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,563,875.60. The trade was a 8.26% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 13,125 shares of company stock worth $286,148 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 45.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,096,605 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,086,000 after acquiring an additional 1,596,262 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Busey by 52.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,706,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,848 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in First Busey by 54.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,731,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,398,000 after purchasing an additional 608,470 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in First Busey by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,309,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,276,000 after purchasing an additional 93,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 32.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 937,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,252,000 after buying an additional 230,268 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.