First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• First Busey Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with three buy ratings and three hold ratings among six ratings firms.
• The stock's average 12-month price target from analysts is $27.33, reflecting recent adjustments from various equity research firms.
• Insider trading shows CFO Scott A. Phillips and Director Karen M. Jensen increasing their stakes in the company, signaling potential confidence in its future performance.

Shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.3333.

BUSE has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $28.00 target price (up previously from $27.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Friday, August 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Busey news, CFO Scott A. Phillips bought 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.25 per share, for a total transaction of $25,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,250. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.60 per share, for a total transaction of $73,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 86,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,135,230.80. This represents a 3.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 6,500 shares of company stock worth $157,175. Company insiders own 3.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in First Busey by 52.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,706,925 shares of the bank's stock valued at $101,670,000 after buying an additional 1,613,848 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in First Busey by 45.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,096,605 shares of the bank's stock valued at $110,086,000 after buying an additional 1,596,262 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter valued at approximately $19,861,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in First Busey in the second quarter valued at approximately $20,113,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Busey by 648.8% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 918,907 shares of the bank's stock valued at $19,848,000 after buying an additional 796,197 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of BUSE opened at $24.31 on Wednesday. First Busey has a 52 week low of $18.40 and a 52 week high of $28.30. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71 and a beta of 0.82. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $23.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. First Busey had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $192.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.91 million. On average, analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. First Busey's dividend 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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