First Busey’s (BUSE) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated their neutral rating on shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $25.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $23.93 on Tuesday. First Busey has a 52 week low of $21.59 and a 52 week high of $28.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.25.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. Equities analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in First Busey by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,503,000 after purchasing an additional 110,895 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in First Busey by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in First Busey by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,723,000 after purchasing an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in First Busey by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,467,000 after purchasing an additional 58,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in First Busey by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,672,000 after purchasing an additional 12,879 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.