Stephens Downgrades First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) to Equal Weight

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) was downgraded by stock analysts at Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $27.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $28.00. Stephens’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.31% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Busey currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $25.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. First Busey has a 52-week low of $17.51 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.51. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.65 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 257.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the first quarter valued at $115,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter worth $142,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 27.3% in the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,606 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.49% 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.