Insider Buying: First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Acquires $43,652.50 in Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Stanley J. Bradshaw purchased 1,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 437,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE opened at $23.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. First Busey Co. has a 1 year low of $21.59 and a 1 year high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in First Busey by 2.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $532,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in First Busey by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in First Busey by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 30,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in First Busey by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in First Busey by 161.1% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.