Michael David Cassens Sells 2,300 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total value of $51,428.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 139,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,126,017.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Michael David Cassens also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total value of $52,808.00.
• On Thursday, February 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total value of $52,946.00.

First Busey Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $22.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.26 and a fifty-two week high of $25.80.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $108.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.74 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 20.37%. Research analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 44.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in First Busey by 1,143.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in First Busey by 237.9% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,409 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the period. Studio Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in First Busey in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.50.

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.