Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $754,000 Holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 145.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,954 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 17,155 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in First Busey were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BUSE. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in First Busey by 1.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 87,257 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,113,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in First Busey during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in First Busey by 257.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in First Busey by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BUSE shares. Stephens lowered shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Busey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.00.

First Busey Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $26.77 on Wednesday. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $21.68 and a one year high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.74 and its 200-day moving average is $25.23.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.