First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Shares Sold by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC decreased its position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,670 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,775 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Busey were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in First Busey by 2.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in First Busey by 1.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 87,257 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 8.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,889 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First Busey by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 121,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in First Busey by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,866 shares of the bank’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $23.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.56. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $21.68 and a fifty-two week 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.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BUSE. Stephens downgraded shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

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.