First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.15 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%.

First Busey Stock Performance

First Busey stock traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.67. The company had a trading volume of 464,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,519. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $21.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.79. First Busey has a 52 week low of $18.40 and a 52 week high of $28.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.75.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 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 4.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey's payout ratio is 93.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BUSE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut First Busey from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James cut their target price on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw purchased 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. This trade represents a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

About First Busey

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.