The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its position in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,707 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,464 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.05% of First Busey worth $747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 694,444 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,069,000 after buying an additional 8,083 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the third quarter worth about $224,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in First Busey during the third quarter worth approximately $348,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in First Busey by 145.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,954 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 17,155 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 191,934 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

BUSE opened at $26.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.96 and a 200 day moving average of $25.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $21.68 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th.

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.