Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $345,000 Position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,244 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 58.7% during the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 55,400 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 20,500 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in First Busey by 168.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,884,000 after buying an additional 93,733 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in First Busey during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $540,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in First Busey in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $25.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.47. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $21.68 and a one year high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.86.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens cut First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

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.