First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01, Zacks reports. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE traded down $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $23.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 593,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,792. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. First Busey has a 12 month low of $21.59 and a 12 month high of $28.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.88.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BUSE. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens lowered shares of 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 research report on Monday, October 14th.

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.