First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Equal Weight Rating at Stephens

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $26.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price target points to a potential upside of 8.62% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

First Busey Stock Down 1.3 %

First Busey stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $23.94. 116,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 331,892. 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 cap of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.87. First Busey has a 12 month low of $21.59 and a 12 month high of $28.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.26.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in First Busey by 2.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in First Busey by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 30,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in First Busey by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in First Busey by 161.1% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is 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.