Fox Run Management L.L.C. Takes Position in First Busey Corporation $BUSE

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,300 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $373,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in First Busey by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 468,608 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,122,000 after purchasing an additional 106,806 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of First Busey by 2.6% during the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in First Busey by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,582 shares of the bank’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 8,099 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in First Busey by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 50,566 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after acquiring an additional 8,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,322 shares of the bank’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,711 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BUSE shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on First Busey from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson raised their target price on First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective (down previously from $28.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.60 per share, with a total value of $73,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 86,798 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott A. Phillips acquired 1,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.64 per share, for a total transaction of $34,614.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,254. This represents a 135.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 5,350 shares of company stock worth $133,664. 3.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $23.15 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.54 and a 200 day moving average of $23.15. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.82. First Busey Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.40 and a 12-month high of $28.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 24th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. First Busey’s payout ratio is 86.96%.

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.