First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock Position Reduced by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 94.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,856 shares of the bank's stock after selling 960,336 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.10% of First Busey worth $1,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of First Busey by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank's stock worth $38,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in First Busey by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank's stock valued at $33,723,000 after acquiring an additional 22,096 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in First Busey by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank's stock valued at $26,467,000 after acquiring an additional 58,982 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in First Busey by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank's stock valued at $16,672,000 after acquiring an additional 12,879 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in First Busey by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 671,402 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,825,000 after acquiring an additional 189,115 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James dropped their target price on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.80.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $20.69. 111,411 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 335,144. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.85.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. As a group, research analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. First Busey's payout ratio is 50.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at $10,462,503.10. The trade was a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey 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.