First Busey Corporation $BUSE Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 53.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 309,540 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 107,795 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in First Busey were worth $6,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in First Busey by 121.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 565,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,317,000 after buying an additional 309,301 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,881 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the 1st quarter worth approximately $263,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of First Busey in the 1st quarter worth approximately $372,000. Finally, Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Busey during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,081,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BUSE. Wall Street Zen raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on First Busey in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of First Busey from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of First Busey in a research report on Monday, June 30th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, CFO Scott A. Phillips purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $25.25 per share, with a total value of $25,250.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,250. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.25 per share, with a total value of $58,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,942,956. This represents a 3.08% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Busey Stock Down 0.2%

BUSE stock opened at $24.64 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00 and a beta of 0.82. First Busey Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.02. First Busey had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $192.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.91 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is 89.29%.

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.