First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Outperform Rating at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $33.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $34.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.75.

First Busey Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $24.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Busey has a 52-week low of $21.59 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. First Busey’s payout ratio is 50.76%.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BUSE. FMR LLC boosted its stake in First Busey by 168.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,884,000 after acquiring an additional 93,733 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 211.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after purchasing an additional 68,585 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,516,000 after purchasing an additional 60,506 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,549,000 after buying an additional 39,900 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in First Busey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $757,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Company Profile

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.