First Busey’s (BUSE) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by analysts at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $28.00 price objective on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 21.26% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, StockNews.com cut First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.75.

First Busey Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $23.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.64. First Busey has a 52-week low of $16.26 and a 52-week high of $25.80.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 18.08%. The business had revenue of $108.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.74 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.40 per share, with a total value of $61,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 45,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,274. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other First Busey news, Director Karen M. Jensen purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.40 per share, for a total transaction of $61,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 45,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,274. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total value of $52,946.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 141,278 shares in the company, valued at $3,252,219.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 4,817 shares of company stock worth $114,780 and sold 6,900 shares worth $157,182. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Plancorp LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Busey by 742.9% during the 3rd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,320,225 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,375,000 after buying an additional 1,163,596 shares in the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the fourth quarter worth about $11,053,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of First Busey by 565.7% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 402,097 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,980,000 after purchasing an additional 341,692 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in First Busey by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 523,703 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,066,000 after purchasing an additional 66,588 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in First Busey by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,537,000 after purchasing an additional 57,392 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.