Michael David Cassens Sells 1,240 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens sold 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.00, for a total transaction of $27,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 155,993 shares in the company, valued at $3,431,846. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $21.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.31 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.03. First Busey Co. has a 52 week low of $16.26 and a 52 week high of $26.73.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $108.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.09 million. First Busey had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 11.26%. On average, analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.23 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 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 20th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 19th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,351 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,220 shares of the bank’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the third quarter valued at $478,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 16.6% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,857 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 9,495 shares in the last quarter. 53.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of First Busey from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of First Busey from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.33.

First Busey Company Profile

First Busey Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Busey Bank that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individual, corporate, institutional, and governmental customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Banking, FirsTech, and Wealth Management.