First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,380,000 shares, a decrease of 54.6% from the February 28th total of 3,040,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 410,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In related news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 437,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in First Busey by 2.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $532,000 after buying an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 30,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in First Busey by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 161.1% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE traded down $0.70 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.69. The stock had a trading volume of 421,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 294,276. First Busey has a one year low of $21.21 and a one year high of $28.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.65. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. On average, research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.76%.

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.