Short Interest in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Drops By 54.6%

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,380,000 shares, a decline of 54.6% from the February 28th total of 3,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 410,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on BUSE shares. Piper Sandler decreased 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, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at $10,462,503.10. The trade was a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,115,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in First Busey by 121.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 565,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,317,000 after buying an additional 309,301 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in First Busey in the fourth quarter worth $5,498,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in First Busey during the fourth quarter worth $4,850,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in First Busey by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 671,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,825,000 after acquiring an additional 189,115 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE opened at $22.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.41 and a 200 day moving average of $24.68. First Busey has a fifty-two week low of $21.21 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.76%.

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.