First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

BUSE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens downgraded First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,719,000 after buying an additional 9,789 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,537,000 after purchasing an additional 57,392 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Denali Advisors LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 3,072.7% during the first quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after buying an additional 33,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in First Busey by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 39,888 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $959,000 after buying an additional 10,401 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE opened at $24.69 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a 12-month low of $17.51 and a 12-month high of $28.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.59.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.48%.

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.