First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens Sells 750 Shares

First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.37, for a total value of $19,027.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 140,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,571,613.97. This represents a 0.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

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

• On Friday, November 14th, Michael David Cassens sold 750 shares of First Busey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.92, for a total transaction of $17,190.00.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.41. 38,454 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 500,321. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.49. The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. First Busey Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.40 and a 52 week high of $25.62.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 20th. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $63.34 million during the quarter. First Busey had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 9.05%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Busey Corporation will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 24th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.96%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its position in First Busey by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 1,082,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,056,000 after acquiring an additional 203,464 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Busey by 111.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,920 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey in the third quarter worth approximately $211,000. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 27.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 355,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,230,000 after purchasing an additional 76,218 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.3% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 171,067 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,960,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BUSE. Piper Sandler cut their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $26.00 price target (down previously from $28.00) on shares of First Busey in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.33.

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.