8,613 Shares in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Purchased by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,613 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 20.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,937,000 after acquiring an additional 163,042 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of First Busey by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 386,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,351,000 after buying an additional 86,492 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in First Busey by 211.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after acquiring an additional 68,585 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the third quarter worth $540,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 55,400 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,341,000 after acquiring an additional 20,500 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BUSE. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens lowered shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.25.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $26.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.79 and its 200 day moving average is $25.26. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90 and a beta of 0.86. First Busey Co. has a 1-year low of $21.68 and a 1-year high of $28.97. 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 results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

First Busey Company 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.