First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) CAO Scott Phillips Purchases 1,350 Shares

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) CAO Scott Phillips purchased 1,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.64 per share, with a total value of $34,614.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,254. This represents a 135.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.66. 545,883 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 515,923. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.77 and its 200-day moving average is $23.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. First Busey Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.40 and a 1-year high of $28.30.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $63.34 million during the quarter. First Busey had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 9.56%. Equities analysts forecast that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 24th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.96%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in First Busey by 2.6% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 538 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 4.6% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of First Busey by 5.1% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,237 shares of the bank’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BUSE. DA Davidson increased their price objective on First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $26.00 target price (down previously from $28.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of First Busey from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.33.

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.