Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires Shares of 59,293 First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 59,293 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,281,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.10% of First Busey at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in First Busey by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank's stock worth $82,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,895 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank's stock worth $26,467,000 after purchasing an additional 58,982 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank's stock worth $16,672,000 after purchasing an additional 12,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in First Busey by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 671,402 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,825,000 after purchasing an additional 189,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in First Busey by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 642,397 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,141,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $22.24 on Wednesday. First Busey Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.60 and a 200-day moving average of $22.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.78.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. The firm 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 8.32% and a return on equity of 8.46%. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey's payout ratio is 93.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Caple purchased 1,175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $25,380.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $97,394.40. This represents a 35.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $22.00 per share, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 76,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,496. This represents a 5.55% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 13,125 shares of company stock worth $286,148 over the last ninety days. 3.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey 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.

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