First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Short Interest Down 54.6% in March

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) saw a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,380,000 shares, a drop of 54.6% from the February 28th total of 3,040,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 410,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BUSE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Monday, February 24th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Busey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at $10,462,503.10. This trade represents a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1,173.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in First Busey by 161.1% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in First Busey by 822.7% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 507.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,786 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 1,492 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Trading Up 1.0 %

BUSE opened at $22.39 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $28.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.68.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced 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 net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

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.