Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 12,879 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,879 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in First Busey were worth $16,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $425,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of First Busey by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 42,502 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at $5,498,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in First Busey by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,997 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in First Busey by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 201,745 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,755,000 after purchasing an additional 9,811 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 437,481 shares in the company, valued at $10,390,173.75. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BUSE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

First Busey Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BUSE opened at $22.01 on Friday. First Busey Co. has a 1-year low of $21.21 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

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.