First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens downgraded First Busey from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

First Busey Price Performance

BUSE stock traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $27.42. 121,772 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 228,306. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey has a 52-week low of $19.67 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. First Busey's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Huntington National Bank purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in First Busey by 257.4% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter worth $115,000. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company's stock.

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.