First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BUSE shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens cut First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th.

First Busey Stock Down 4.7 %

First Busey stock opened at $24.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.58. First Busey has a twelve month low of $17.51 and a twelve month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.65 million. As a group, research analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Busey during the second quarter worth $34,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in First Busey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 257.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the first quarter worth about $115,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the first quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Hedge funds and other 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.