Wavvest Wealth LLC Acquires New Position in First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Wavvest Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 22,697 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 4.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,067,210 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,046,000 after purchasing an additional 194,343 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in First Busey during the second quarter valued at $32,712,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc boosted its holdings in First Busey by 101.3% in the first quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 492,113 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,436,000 after purchasing an additional 247,589 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in First Busey by 16.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 475,547 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,017,000 after purchasing an additional 65,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in First Busey by 13.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 301,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,614,000 after purchasing an additional 36,140 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $29.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.82. First Busey Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.12 and a 12 month high of $31.70.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.06. First Busey had a net margin of 21.00% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The firm had revenue of $194.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.59 million. Analysts expect that First Busey Corporation will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 23rd. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Michael Cassens sold 1,441 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total value of $41,961.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 128,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,743,987.52. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 4,323 shares of company stock valued at $130,627 over the last three months. 3.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BUSE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Busey in a report on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler cut First Busey from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded First Busey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.00.

First Busey Profile

First Busey Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. Through its banking and wealth management businesses, the company serves individuals, families, businesses and institutions with a range of financial products and services.

Its principal banking subsidiary, Busey Bank, provides consumer and commercial checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, treasury management and other deposit and lending services. First Busey also offers investment management, trust, retirement planning, financial planning and brokerage services through its wealth management operations.

First Busey traces its banking roots to 1868 and primarily serves customers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Florida, with additional markets following its combination with CrossFirst Bankshares.