First Busey’s (BUSE) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $29.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Busey Trading Up 1.9 %

BUSE stock opened at $23.89 on Wednesday. First Busey has a 1-year low of $21.59 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.64 and its 200-day moving average is $25.53. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.88.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in First Busey by 168.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,884,000 after acquiring an additional 93,733 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 81.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,516,000 after purchasing an additional 60,506 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in First Busey by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in First Busey during the 3rd quarter worth $757,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.