Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 4.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 321,400 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,613 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in First Busey were worth $8,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of First Busey by 211.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 100,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,627,000 after buying an additional 68,585 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of First Busey by 45.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 17,248 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,889 shares of the bank’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of First Busey during the third quarter valued at approximately $540,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Trading Up 1.4 %

First Busey stock opened at $26.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.01. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $20.67 and a 1 year high of $28.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BUSE. Stephens lowered First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Busey has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.80.

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.