Michael David Cassens Sells 2,300 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction 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 owns 139,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,126,017.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Michael David Cassens also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total transaction of $52,808.00.
• On Thursday, February 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total transaction of $52,946.00.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $21.86 on Friday. First Busey Co. has a 12 month low of $16.26 and a 12 month high of $25.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.50.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $108.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.74 million. First Busey had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 10.38%. On average, equities analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is 44.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in First Busey by 102,760.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,102,710 shares of the bank’s stock worth $793,579,000 after purchasing an additional 32,071,500 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC raised its position in First Busey by 742.9% in the 3rd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,320,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,375,000 after buying an additional 1,163,596 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of First Busey by 48.6% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,525,185 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,656,000 after purchasing an additional 498,963 shares during the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,053,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of First Busey by 1,148.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 383,258 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,757,000 after purchasing an additional 352,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.