First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04, Yahoo Finance reports. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $24.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a 52 week low of $17.51 and a 52 week high of $28.97.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BUSE shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens cut shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.80.

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.