Peregrine Capital Management LLC Invests $5.50 Million in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 233,258 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $5,498,000. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.41% of First Busey as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Creative Planning grew its position in First Busey by 45.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,090 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 17,248 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 5.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 191,934 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,994,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 145.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,954 shares of the bank's stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 17,155 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.75.

First Busey Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ:BUSE traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $24.25. 376,426 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 338,854. The company's 50 day moving average is $23.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.25. First Busey Co. has a twelve month low of $21.59 and a twelve month high of $28.97. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.87.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a positive change from First Busey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

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.