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

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Busey from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $25.75.

First Busey Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $22.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.85. First Busey has a 52-week low of $16.26 and a 52-week high of $25.80. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.67.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total transaction of $51,428.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,126,017.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other First Busey news, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.98 per share, for a total transaction of $45,960.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 47,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,503.30. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total transaction of $51,428.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 139,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,126,017.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 4,817 shares of company stock valued at $114,780 and have sold 6,900 shares valued at $157,182. 7.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,278,444 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,372,000 after purchasing an additional 55,224 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 26,829 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,537,000 after purchasing an additional 57,392 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 742.9% in the 3rd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,320,225 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,596 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 636,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,801,000 after purchasing an additional 31,442 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.