New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $1 Million Stock Position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,502 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of First Busey worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Peregrine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey during the 4th quarter worth about $5,498,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,997 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 201,745 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,755,000 after purchasing an additional 9,811 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,983 shares of the bank’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BUSE. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Busey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

First Busey Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $24.04 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Busey Co. has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $28.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.87.

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

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.75 per share, with a total value of $43,652.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 437,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,390,173.75. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

First Busey 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.