State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stock Position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,504 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,615 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.21% of First Busey worth $2,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 1,143.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 972 shares during the period. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at $11,053,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 97.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 76,255 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,893,000 after buying an additional 37,563 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,819 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Busey by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,886,341 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,475,000 after buying an additional 26,829 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.75.

First Busey Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $22.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.69. First Busey Co. has a twelve month low of $16.26 and a twelve month high of $25.80.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $22.98 per share, for a total transaction of $45,960.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 47,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,093,503.30. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $22.98 per share, for a total transaction of $45,960.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 47,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,093,503.30. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total transaction of $52,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 141,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,252,219.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 2,317 shares of company stock worth $53,780 and have sold 6,900 shares worth $157,182. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.