First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.80.

Several analysts recently commented on BUSE shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens downgraded First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in First Busey by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,359,080 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,686,000 after buying an additional 72,800 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its stake in First Busey by 3,072.7% during the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 33,800 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,159,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,895,000 after purchasing an additional 212,782 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 17,013 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 2,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter worth $540,000. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $24.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.59. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a twelve month low of $17.51 and a twelve month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts predict that First Busey will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.48%.

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.