First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Raymond James Financial

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by Raymond James Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $26.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price target of $28.00. Raymond James Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.28% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on BUSE. DA Davidson boosted their price target on First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.33.

First Busey Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of First Busey stock opened at $22.36 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.79 and a 200-day moving average of $22.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 19.44 and a beta of 0.77. First Busey has a 52-week low of $18.40 and a 52-week high of $28.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $63.34 million during the quarter. First Busey had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 9.56%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other First Busey news, CFO Scott A. Phillips bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $25,250. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.60 per share, with a total value of $73,800.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 86,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,135,230.80. This represents a 3.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 56.4% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,251 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 812 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 726.1% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,280 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 23.7% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 59.3% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,881 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.