Barclays PLC Grows Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Barclays PLC raised its position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 81.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,069 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 60,506 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.24% of First Busey worth $3,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in First Busey by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank's stock worth $22,937,000 after acquiring an additional 163,042 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 168.7% during the 3rd 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 period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 28.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 386,231 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,351,000 after purchasing an additional 86,492 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of First Busey by 211.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,627,000 after purchasing an additional 68,585 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new position in First Busey in the third quarter valued at $757,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ BUSE traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $24.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 238,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 229,183. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $21.68 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $25.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.54.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. First Busey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Stephens downgraded First Busey from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th.

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.