First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Downgraded by Stephens to “Equal Weight”

Stephens cut shares of First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $27.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their prior price target of $28.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BUSE. DA Davidson raised their target price on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on 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 First Busey from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $27.80.

First Busey Stock Down 1.5 %

BUSE stock opened at $24.90 on Monday. First Busey has a 52 week low of $17.51 and a 52 week high of $28.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.65 million. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Creative Planning boosted its position in First Busey by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 17,248 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Busey during the third quarter worth $540,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the second quarter worth $352,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in First Busey by 397.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,660 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 8,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.