First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Receives $27.80 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.80.

Several analysts recently issued reports on BUSE shares. Stephens lowered First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

First Busey Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $26.83 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. First Busey has a 52-week low of $20.67 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in First Busey by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 87,257 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,113,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 8.8% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,889 shares of the bank’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in First Busey by 257.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of First Busey by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.