Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $80.50 Million Stock Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,325,083 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,603 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.86% of First Busey worth $80,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the second quarter worth $34,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in First Busey by 257.4% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter worth $115,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter worth $142,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in First Busey by 27.3% in the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,606 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BUSE has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.60.

First Busey Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $25.77 on Thursday. First Busey Co. has a 1 year low of $17.51 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $116.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.65 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $389,328.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at $9,092,960.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other First Busey news, EVP John Joseph Powers sold 6,090 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $143,358.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 89,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,107,088.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $389,328.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,092,960.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 264 shares of company stock worth $5,319 and have sold 22,790 shares worth $536,477. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.