First Busey (BUSE) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The Banking segment provides banking services to individual customers, such as demand and savings deposits, money transfers, safe deposit services, individual retirement accounts and other fiduciary services, automated teller machines, and technology-based networks, as well as loan products, including residential real estate, home equity lines of credit, and consumer loans. This segment also offers banking services to corporate customers, including commercial, commercial real estate, real estate construction, and agricultural loans, as well as cash management services. The Wealth Management segment offers a range of investment and asset management, investment, brokerage, investment strategy consulting, fiduciary, philanthropic advisory, tax preparation, business succession planning, and employee retirement plan services to individuals, businesses, and foundations; and professional farm management services to the agricultural industry. The FirsTech segment provides payment technology solutions comprising online, mobile, and voice-recognition bill payments; money management and credit card networks; direct debit services; lockbox remittance processing for payments made by mail; and walk-in payments, as well as tools to help clients with billing, reconciliation, bill reminders, and treasury services. The company was founded in 1868 and is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $22.11 to $22.54
• 50-Day Range: $21.26 to $25.35
• 52-Week Range: $21.21 to $28.97
• Volume: 307,207 shs
• Average Volume: 279,840 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.26 billion
• P/E Ratio: 11.25
• Dividend Yield: 4.51%
• Price Target: $28.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

First Busey Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

First Busey scored higher than 99% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 67th out of 945 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

First Busey has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on 2 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

First Busey has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 8.05%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for First Busey are expected to grow by 8.05% in the coming year, from $2.61 to $2.82 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of First Busey is 11.25, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 22.89.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of First Busey is 11.25, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.85.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

First Busey has a P/B Ratio of 0.96. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.61% of the float of First Busey has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

First Busey has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in First Busey has recently decreased by 54.61%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

First Busey is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.54%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

First Busey does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of First Busey is 50.76%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, First Busey will have a dividend payout ratio of 35.46% next year. This indicates that First Busey will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.49

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.61% of the float of First Busey has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

First Busey has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in First Busey has recently decreased by 54.61%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.8 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.00

News Sentiment

First Busey has a news sentiment score of 1.00. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 10 news articles for First Busey this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

5 people have added First Busey to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, First Busey insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $80,542.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 7.10% of the stock of First Busey is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

56.49% of the stock of First Busey is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

BUSE Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have BUSE shares performed this year?

First Busey's stock was trading at $23.57 at the beginning of the year. Since then, BUSE stock has decreased by 6.0% and is now trading at $22.16.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were First Busey's earnings last quarter?

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January, 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 8.94%.

Who are First Busey's major shareholders?

First Busey's top institutional investors include Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (6.15%), Vanguard Group Inc. (5.44%), Wellington Management Group LLP (3.03%) and Wellington Management Group LLP (3.03%). Insiders that own company stock include Stanley J Bradshaw, Michael David Cassens, Jeffrey David Jones, George Barr, Karen M Jensen, John Joseph Powers, Van A Dukeman, Gregory B Lykins, Scott A Phillips, Amy L Randolph, Cassandra R Sanford and Monica L Bowe.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of First Busey?

Shares of BUSE stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of First Busey own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that First Busey investors own include Broadcom (AVGO), NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Adobe (ADBE), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Arista Networks (ANET).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 1/31 Dividend: 1/24/2025
• Last Earnings: 1/28/2025
• Dividend Payable: 1/31/2025
• Today: 3/26/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 4/22/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: State commercial banks
• Sub-Industry: Regional Banks
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:BUSE
• CIK: 314489
• Web: www.busey.com
• Phone: (217) 365-4544
• Fax: 217-365-4879
• Employees: 1,500
• Year Founded: 1868

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $28.00
• High Stock Price Target: $33.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $25.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +26.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 4 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $1.97
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 11.25
• Forward P/E Ratio: 8.49
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $113.69 million
• Net Margins: 17.14%
• Pretax Margin: 22.70%
• Return on Equity: 8.94%
• Return on Assets: 1.00%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.22
• Current Ratio: 0.82
• Quick Ratio: 0.82

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $461.45 million
• Price / Sales: 2.74
• Cash Flow: $2.90 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 7.65
• Book Value: $23.02 per share
• Price / Book: 0.96

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 56,959,000
• Free Float: 52,840,000
• Market Cap: $1.26 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.84