First Busey Corporation $BUSE Shares Sold by Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lessened its holdings in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 89.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,123 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 184,648 shares during the quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust’s holdings in First Busey were worth $483,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BUSE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 52.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,706,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,848 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in First Busey by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,096,605 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,086,000 after buying an additional 1,596,262 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey in the first quarter valued at $19,861,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 648.8% in the first quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 918,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,848,000 after acquiring an additional 796,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey in the first quarter valued at $16,837,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price (down previously from $28.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In related news, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.60 per share, for a total transaction of $73,800.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 86,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,135,230.80. The trade was a 3.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Scott A. Phillips bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.25 per share, for a total transaction of $25,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,250. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $22.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. First Busey Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 11.00%.The business had revenue of $63.34 million for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 24th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.29%.

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.