First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives $27.80 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

BUSE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $22.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.83. First Busey has a 1 year low of $18.40 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.01 and a beta of 0.78.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.15 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $22.00 per share, for a total transaction of $88,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 76,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,496. This represents a 5.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Caple purchased 1,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.60 per share, with a total value of $25,380.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,394.40. The trade was a 35.24% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 13,125 shares of company stock valued at $286,148 in the last ninety days. 3.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 121.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 565,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,317,000 after acquiring an additional 309,301 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 39.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,799 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 65.4% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 114,808 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 45,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 45,976 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 16,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.