Two Sigma Advisers LP Purchases 45,400 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 65.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 114,808 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,400 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned approximately 0.20% of First Busey worth $2,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 110,895 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 5.5% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,672,000 after purchasing an additional 12,879 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 671,402 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,825,000 after purchasing an additional 189,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 642,397 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,141,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BUSE shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Trading Up 3.0%

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $22.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.29. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $18.40 and a one year high of $28.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.75.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $140.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.15 million. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.46%.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at $10,462,503.10. The trade was a 0.35% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey 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.