Insider Buying: First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Buys $43,652.50 in Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.75 per share, with a total value of $43,652.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 437,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

First Busey Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of First Busey stock traded up $0.40 on Thursday, hitting $23.99. The stock had a trading volume of 230,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 345,781. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.78 and a 200 day moving average of $25.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. First Busey Co. has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Sell-side analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. First Busey’s payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in First Busey by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $82,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,895 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after purchasing an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in First Busey by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,467,000 after purchasing an additional 58,982 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Busey by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,672,000 after purchasing an additional 12,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

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.