First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Shares Sold by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,399 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 2,160 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC owned 0.06% of First Busey worth $895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BUSE. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in First Busey by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,159,907 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,895,000 after buying an additional 212,782 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 947,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $22,937,000 after buying an additional 163,042 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 386,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,351,000 after buying an additional 86,492 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,359,080 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,686,000 after buying an additional 72,800 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in First Busey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $540,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BUSE opened at $24.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.66. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.51 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BUSE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens cut shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.80.

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.