Scott Phillips Acquires 5,000 Shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) CAO Scott Phillips bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.90 per share, for a total transaction of $129,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief accounting officer owned 8,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,265. This represents a 149.25% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE opened at $26.73 on Thursday. First Busey Corporation has a twelve month low of $21.41 and a twelve month high of $27.65. The company has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.70 and a 200 day moving average of $24.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $197.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.15 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.16% and a net margin of 19.16%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First Busey Corporation will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 24th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in First Busey by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,746,996 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $184,301,000 after buying an additional 611,090 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,078,833 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,575,000 after acquiring an additional 33,430 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of First Busey by 36,664.6% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,131,973 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,510,000 after acquiring an additional 3,123,454 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of First Busey by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,384,661 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,941,000 after acquiring an additional 102,904 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,314,576 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,274,000 after purchasing an additional 145,681 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BUSE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stephens upped their target price on shares of First Busey from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Busey from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.50.

About First Busey

First Busey (NASDAQ: BUSE) is a bank holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, with roots tracing back to the founding of Busey Bank in 1868. As a regional financial institution, it offers a broad spectrum of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations. Its core activities include commercial lending, deposit-taking, and cash management, which are tailored to meet the needs of local communities across its operating footprint.

In addition to traditional banking operations, First Busey provides wealth management and trust services through its subsidiary aimed at high-net-worth clients and fiduciary accounts.