Inceptionr LLC Invests $315,000 in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,374 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BUSE. Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at $757,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank's stock valued at $12,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,900 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 168.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,884,000 after purchasing an additional 93,733 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank's stock valued at $33,723,000 after buying an additional 22,096 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in First Busey by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,550 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 15,829 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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First Busey Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BUSE stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $21.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 480,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,673. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey Co. has a 52 week low of $21.20 and a 52 week 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. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.03.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from First Busey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is 50.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.75 per share, with a total value of $43,652.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 437,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,390,173.75. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.10% 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.