Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 1,406 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 45,324 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.08% of First Busey worth $1,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 1,173.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the third quarter worth about $171,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 482,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. This trade represents a 0.35 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $21.69 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.64. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BUSE. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Busey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

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.