PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 1,326 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 1,173.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,439 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in First Busey were worth $34,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in First Busey by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after buying an additional 22,096 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in First Busey by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,672,000 after buying an additional 12,879 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in First Busey by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,549,000 after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in First Busey by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 322,813 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

First Busey Stock Up 1.0 %

BUSE stock opened at $22.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.68. First Busey Co. has a 1-year low of $21.21 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. This represents a 0.35 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.