First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock Holdings Lowered by Interval Partners LP

Interval Partners LP decreased its holdings in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 75.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,574 shares of the bank's stock after selling 41,477 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP's holdings in First Busey were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey in the 4th quarter worth about $9,115,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,498,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in First Busey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,850,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 189,115 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of First Busey by 1,181.6% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 170,340 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,015,000 after acquiring an additional 157,049 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BUSE. Raymond James lowered their target price on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Busey from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $33.00 target price (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,838 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $23.75 per share, with a total value of $43,652.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of First Busey stock traded down $0.09 on Friday, hitting $22.48. 394,574 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 352,130. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm's 50-day moving average is $21.14 and its 200 day moving average is $23.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $18.40 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $140.72 million during 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. 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.