First Busey Corporation $BUSE Shares Bought by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 50.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,748 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,751 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.14% of First Busey worth $2,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in First Busey by 52.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,706,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,848 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in First Busey by 45.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,096,605 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,596,262 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $19,861,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in First Busey by 648.8% in the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 918,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,848,000 after purchasing an additional 796,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter worth about $16,837,000. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Busey Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $24.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.74 and its 200-day moving average is $22.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. First Busey Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.40 and a 1 year high of $28.30.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $192.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.91 million. First Busey had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 8.76%. Equities analysts expect that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other news, CFO Scott A. Phillips bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.25 per share, with a total value of $25,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer owned 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,250. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.60 per share, with a total value of $73,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 86,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,135,230.80. This represents a 3.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 6,500 shares of company stock valued at $157,175 over the last three months. 3.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BUSE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (up from $27.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Busey in a research report on Monday, June 30th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Busey presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.33.

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.