AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 1,181.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 170,340 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 157,049 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.30% of First Busey worth $4,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in First Busey by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,069 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,516,000 after acquiring an additional 60,506 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in First Busey by 61.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,550 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 15,829 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 9.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,983 shares of the bank's stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in First Busey during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com downgraded First Busey from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Busey presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.52. The company had a trading volume of 385,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,952. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.51. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $18.40 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $140.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.15 million. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Equities research analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.