Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 107,795 Shares of First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ: BUSE) by 53.4%, acquiring an additional 107,795 shares in the first quarter.
• First Busey announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $1.00 at a yield of 4.1%.
• First Busey reported a net margin of 9.48% and earnings per share of $0.63 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $0.61.

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 53.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 309,540 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 107,795 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.54% of First Busey worth $6,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in First Busey by 6.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in First Busey by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 103,131 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,431,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares during the period. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of First Busey by 96.3% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 207,956 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,902,000 after purchasing an additional 102,029 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 49,910 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 6,364 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 45,976 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 16,954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Busey news, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $58,125.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 83,568 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,942,956. The trade was a 3.08% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Scott A. Phillips purchased 1,000 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.25 per share, for a total transaction of $25,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $25,250. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Friday, August 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.33.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.61. 421,503 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 428,668. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.73 and a 200 day moving average of $22.52. First Busey Corporation has a one year low of $18.40 and a one year high of $28.30.

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

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.