Stanley J. Bradshaw Acquires 1,838 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.75 per share, with a total value of $43,652.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 437,481 shares in the company, valued at $10,390,173.75. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

First Busey Price Performance

First Busey stock opened at $23.99 on Friday. First Busey Co. has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.23. The company has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Sell-side analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. First Busey’s payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BUSE. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 45.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 17,248 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position 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 worth $2,627,000 after purchasing an additional 68,585 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank acquired a new position in shares of First Busey during the third quarter worth $38,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in First Busey by 5.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 191,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in First Busey by 145.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,954 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 17,155 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.