Creative Planning Acquires 17,248 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Creative Planning lifted its stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 55,090 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,248 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in First Busey were worth $1,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BUSE. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in First Busey by 5.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,359,080 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,686,000 after buying an additional 72,800 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,159,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,895,000 after acquiring an additional 212,782 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $22,937,000 after acquiring an additional 163,042 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in First Busey by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 411,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,968,000 after acquiring an additional 6,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 28.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 386,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,351,000 after purchasing an additional 86,492 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $24.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.84. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $19.22 and a one year high of $28.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.86 and its 200-day moving average is $24.66.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens lowered First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson raised their price target on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.80.

First Busey 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.