First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Acquires 1,838 Shares

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) 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 cost of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 437,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. The trade was 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 accessible through the SEC website.

First Busey Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $23.99 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.78 and a 200-day moving average of $25.23. First Busey Co. has a 12-month low of $21.59 and a 12-month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on BUSE shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,503,000 after purchasing an additional 110,895 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in First Busey by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after buying an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in First Busey by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,723,000 after buying an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in First Busey by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,467,000 after acquiring an additional 58,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,672,000 after acquiring an additional 12,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.