First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $31.00

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BUSE shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Busey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial cut First Busey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Insider Transactions at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Michael Cassens sold 1,441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total transaction of $41,961.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 128,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,743,987.52. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 4,323 shares of company stock worth $130,627 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BUSE. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in First Busey by 45.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 142,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,600,000 after purchasing an additional 44,551 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter worth $1,743,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in First Busey by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 475,547 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,017,000 after buying an additional 65,745 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in First Busey in the 2nd quarter worth $32,712,000. Finally, Rhino Investment Partners Inc increased its stake in First Busey by 101.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 492,113 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,436,000 after buying an additional 247,589 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $28.81 on Thursday. First Busey has a fifty-two week low of $22.12 and a fifty-two week high of $31.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.75.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.04). First Busey had a net margin of 21.13% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $194.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.77 million. On average, analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.65 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 23rd. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 42.45%.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. Through its banking and wealth management businesses, the company serves individuals, families, businesses and institutions with a range of financial products and services.

Its principal banking subsidiary, Busey Bank, provides consumer and commercial checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, treasury management and other deposit and lending services. First Busey also offers investment management, trust, retirement planning, financial planning and brokerage services through its wealth management operations.

First Busey traces its banking roots to 1868 and primarily serves customers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Florida, with additional markets following its combination with CrossFirst Bankshares.