Stifel Financial Corp Invests $757,000 in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 29,094 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $757,000. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.05% of First Busey at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in First Busey by 20.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank's stock valued at $22,937,000 after purchasing an additional 163,042 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 168.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,884,000 after buying an additional 93,733 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 386,231 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,351,000 after buying an additional 86,492 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in First Busey by 211.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,627,000 after buying an additional 68,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the third quarter valued at approximately $540,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BUSE shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens lowered 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 report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson upped their price target on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th.

First Busey Stock Performance

First Busey stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.24. The company had a trading volume of 90,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 228,624. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.91 and a 200-day moving average of $25.55. First Busey Co. has a 52 week low of $21.68 and a 52 week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE - Get Free Report) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $118.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. First Busey's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

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.