Financial Counselors Inc. Makes New $675,000 Investment in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Financial Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 31,263 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $675,000. Financial Counselors Inc. owned about 0.05% of First Busey as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 3.3% in the fourth 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 5.5% during the fourth 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 position in shares of First Busey by 1.9% during the fourth 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. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 671,402 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,825,000 after purchasing an additional 189,115 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 buying an additional 36,531 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $22.00 per share, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 76,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,496. The trade was a 5.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Caple bought 1,175 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director owned 4,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,394.40. The trade was a 35.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 13,125 shares of company stock valued at $286,148. 3.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on BUSE. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Busey in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on First Busey from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler began coverage on First Busey in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.67.

First Busey Price Performance

BUSE stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.96. The company had a trading volume of 321,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,726. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39 and a beta of 0.77. First Busey Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 8.32%. Equities research analysts expect that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. First Busey's payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

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.