First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with four rated as hold and three as buy.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, translating to a 4.5% dividend yield.
• First Busey reported a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 8.76% in its latest earnings report.

Shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $27.3333.

BUSE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $22.47 on Friday. First Busey has a one year low of $18.40 and a one year high of $28.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's fifty day moving average is $23.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.75.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter. First Busey had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $63.34 million for the quarter. Research analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 24th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is presently 89.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.60 per share, with a total value of $73,800.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 86,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,135,230.80. This represents a 3.58% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott A. Phillips purchased 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.25 per share, for a total transaction of $25,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $25,250. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 6,500 shares of company stock worth $157,175. Corporate insiders own 3.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in First Busey by 3,182.9% in the 1st 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. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $372,000. TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,162,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $88,000. Finally, Kavar Capital Partners Group LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,802,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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