Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 1,406 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,324 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,406 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in First Busey were worth $1,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in First Busey by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after buying an additional 22,096 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Busey by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,672,000 after buying an additional 12,879 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 9.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,549,000 after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in First Busey by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 322,813 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,609,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $21.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. First Busey Co. has a 12 month low of $21.21 and a 12 month high of $28.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.64.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. First Busey’s payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BUSE. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Insider Transactions at First Busey

In related news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,462,503.10. This represents a 0.35 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

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.