First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Short Interest Update

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,730,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the November 30th total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 269,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.4 days.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in First Busey in the third quarter worth $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in First Busey during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in First Busey by 257.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of First Busey in the 3rd quarter worth about $171,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE remained flat at $23.57 during trading hours on Tuesday. The company had a trading volume of 178,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,525. First Busey has a 12 month low of $21.68 and a 12 month high of $28.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.86.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens downgraded shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th.

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.