Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 9,782 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 191,934 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.34% of First Busey worth $4,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Huntington National Bank bought a new position in First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 257.4% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the first quarter valued at approximately $115,000. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BUSE shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.80.

First Busey Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $26.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $20.67 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

First Busey 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.