Aigen Investment Management LP Invests $270,000 in First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP recently acquired a new position in First Busey Corporation, purchasing 12,484 shares valued at approximately $270,000.
• Insider purchases included 1,175 shares by Director Steven W. Caple and 2,500 shares by Director Karen M. Jensen, indicating increased confidence among company leadership.
• First Busey's quarterly earnings exceeded analysts' expectations, reporting $0.63 per share, while a recent dividend of $0.25 reflects a 4.3% dividend yield.

Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,484 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First Busey by 52.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,706,925 shares of the bank's stock valued at $101,670,000 after buying an additional 1,613,848 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Busey by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank's stock valued at $82,503,000 after buying an additional 110,895 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in First Busey by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,309,057 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,276,000 after buying an additional 93,600 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in First Busey by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 937,591 shares of the bank's stock valued at $20,252,000 after buying an additional 230,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $15,301,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In related news, Director Steven W. Caple acquired 1,175 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $25,380.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 4,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,394.40. This represents a 35.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 5,500 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 72,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,563,875.60. The trade was a 8.26% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 15,625 shares of company stock valued at $344,273 over the last quarter. 3.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BUSE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of First Busey from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Busey in a report on Monday, June 30th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, First Busey currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.17.

First Busey Stock Performance

First Busey stock traded up $0.0750 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.2650. The company's stock had a trading volume of 69,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 523,092. First Busey Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.40 and a 12-month high of $28.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $23.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.54.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 9.48%.The company had revenue of $192.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.91 million. Sell-side analysts predict that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. First Busey's payout ratio is 89.29%.

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.