Rhumbline Advisers Grows Position in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 50.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 127,748 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 42,751 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.22% of First Busey worth $2,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in First Busey by 1,173.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the bank's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 161.1% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 822.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the bank's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,522 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 507.5% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,786 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 1,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 3,182.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,990 shares of the bank's stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 4,838 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $119,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 72,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,563,875.60. The trade was a 8.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven W. Caple bought 1,175 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $25,380.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,509 shares in the company, valued at $97,394.40. This trade represents a 35.24% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 13,125 shares of company stock valued at $286,148 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.85% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BUSE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, First Busey presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $22.48. 533,378 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,592. 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 company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $21.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.83. First Busey Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.40 and a 1 year high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 8.32%. Sell-side analysts expect that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

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.