Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates Outperform Rating for First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their outperform rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $33.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $34.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BUSE. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.75.

First Busey Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $24.40 on Thursday. First Busey has a 52-week low of $21.59 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.52. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.88.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. Research analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. This is a boost from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the third quarter worth $757,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in First Busey by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,549,000 after buying an additional 39,900 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in First Busey by 168.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,884,000 after acquiring an additional 93,733 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after acquiring an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,550 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 15,829 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.