First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Sets New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $21.59 and last traded at $21.95, with a volume of 15563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BUSE shares. Stephens downgraded First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Busey Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. State Street Corp boosted its position in First Busey by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after acquiring an additional 6,367 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after purchasing an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in First Busey by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,937,000 after purchasing an additional 163,042 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Busey by 1.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 694,444 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,069,000 after purchasing an additional 8,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in First Busey by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,549,000 after buying an additional 39,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.