First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by Stephens in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $28.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 21.95% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com cut First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.75.

First Busey Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of First Busey stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $22.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 92,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,913. The company has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.04 and a 200 day moving average of $22.61. First Busey has a 1-year low of $16.26 and a 1-year high of $25.80.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 20.37%. The business had revenue of $108.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.74 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total transaction of $52,946.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 141,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,252,219.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total value of $52,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 141,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,252,219.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.40 per share, for a total transaction of $61,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 45,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,274. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 4,917 shares of company stock worth $117,215 and sold 6,900 shares worth $157,182. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BUSE. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,053,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 6.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 605,177 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,632,000 after purchasing an additional 34,034 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC raised its position in shares of First Busey by 742.9% during the third quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,320,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,596 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in First Busey by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,886,341 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,475,000 after buying an additional 26,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in First Busey by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 385,328 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,406,000 after buying an additional 5,025 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Busey Company 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.