First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Rating Lowered to Equal Weight at Stephens

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) was downgraded by stock analysts at Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, FinViz reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.60.

First Busey Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $25.27 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.49. First Busey has a fifty-two week low of $17.51 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $116.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.65 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,719,000 after purchasing an additional 9,789 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of First Busey by 3.8% during the 4th 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 period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in First Busey in the fourth quarter valued at $249,000. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its stake in First Busey by 3,072.7% during the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 33,800 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 39,888 shares of the bank’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 10,401 shares in 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.