First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) CAO Acquires $34,614.00 in Stock

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) CAO Scott Phillips acquired 1,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.64 per share, for a total transaction of $34,614.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,254. This trade represents a 135.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

First Busey Trading Down 1.3%

BUSE stock opened at $22.76 on Friday. First Busey Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.40 and a 52 week high of $28.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. First Busey had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The firm had revenue of $63.34 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 24th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in First Busey in the first quarter valued at about $372,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the first quarter worth about $263,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 59.3% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,881 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by 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.