EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 11,375 First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in First Busey Corporation, purchasing 11,375 shares valued at approximately $246,000.
• Insider transactions include Director Karen M. Jensen buying 2,500 shares, and CFO Scott A. Phillips acquiring 1,000 shares of the bank's stock recently.
• Equities research analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for First Busey, with an average price target of $27.33.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,375 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 56.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,251 shares of the bank's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of First Busey by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the bank's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of First Busey by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,881 shares of the bank's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Scott A. Phillips purchased 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.25 per share, with a total value of $25,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 1,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,250. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $58,125.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 83,568 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,942,956. The trade was a 3.08% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.85% of the company's stock.

First Busey Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of BUSE traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 418,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,048. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.74 and a 200 day moving average of $22.52. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82 and a beta of 0.82. First Busey Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.40 and a 1 year high of $28.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is 89.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BUSE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Busey in a research report on Monday, June 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $28.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.33.

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.