Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Grows Position in First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC significantly increased its stake in First Busey Corporation by 648.8% in Q1, now owning approximately 1.6% of the company valued at $19.8 million.
• Insider transactions showed positive sentiment as CFO Scott A. Phillips and Director Karen M. Jensen both purchased shares, contributing to a total of 8,950 shares bought by insiders in the last three months.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $27.17 for First Busey, with ratings ranging from "outperform" to "hold" from several firms.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 648.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 918,907 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 796,197 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 1.61% of First Busey worth $19,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in First Busey by 63.7% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 17,671 shares of the bank's stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in First Busey by 3,068.6% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,312 shares of the bank's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 10,955 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P raised its position in shares of First Busey by 171.7% in the first quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 109,006 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,355,000 after acquiring an additional 68,889 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter worth about $19,861,000. Finally, Lee Financial Co purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter worth about $248,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at First Busey

In other news, CFO Scott A. Phillips purchased 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.25 per share, with a total value of $25,250.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,250. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.25 per share, with a total value of $58,125.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 83,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,956. The trade was a 3.08% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 8,950 shares of company stock valued at $203,163 in the last three months. 3.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BUSE shares. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on First Busey from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.17.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $24.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.52. First Busey Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.40 and a 12 month high of $28.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

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

First Busey Announces Dividend

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

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