First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $26.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BUSE. DA Davidson cut their target price on First Busey from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

First Busey Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $24.00 on Monday. 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 has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $28.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 45.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 17,248 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in First Busey by 211.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,627,000 after buying an additional 68,585 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank acquired a new stake in First Busey during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in First Busey by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 191,934 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,994,000 after buying an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in First Busey by 145.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,954 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 17,155 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.