Fmr LLC Grows Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) by 168.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,279 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 93,733 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 0.26% of First Busey worth $3,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the second quarter worth $216,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in First Busey by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,602 shares of the bank's stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 4,354 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in First Busey by 1.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 411,749 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,968,000 after buying an additional 6,658 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 257.4% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company's stock.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.23. 180,190 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 227,577. 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 1 year low of $21.68 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $25.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.86.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $118.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. First Busey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.