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

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.60.

Several brokerages have issued reports on BUSE. StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. 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 report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $389,328.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at $9,092,960.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other First Busey news, EVP John Joseph Powers sold 6,090 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $143,358.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 89,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,107,088.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $389,328.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,092,960.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,790 shares of company stock valued at $536,477 over the last three months. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 257.4% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter valued at $115,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter valued at $142,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 27.3% during the 1st quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,606 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $25.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. First Busey has a 12 month low of $17.51 and a 12 month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.65 million. Research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. First Busey’s payout ratio is 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.