Invesco Ltd. Has $2.88 Million Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 122,355 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,795 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.22% of First Busey worth $2,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 1,173.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 161.1% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $245,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $280,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $20.94 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $18.40 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $140.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.15 million. Research analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.78%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Busey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.80.

Insider Activity

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. The trade was a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.