First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

BUSE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,838 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 437,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. This represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the bank's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,069 shares of the bank's stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 20,633 shares of the bank's stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in First Busey by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank's stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in First Busey by 56.4% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,251 shares of the bank's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company's stock.

First Busey Trading Up 3.0%

BUSE traded up $0.65 on Thursday, hitting $22.26. The company had a trading volume of 320,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 359,654. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey has a 1 year low of $18.40 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The company's fifty day moving average price is $21.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, equities analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.