First Busey Corporation $BUSE Shares Newly Bought by Wavvest Wealth LLC

Wavvest Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 22,697 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in First Busey by 4.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,067,210 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,046,000 after purchasing an additional 194,343 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,712,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 101.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 492,113 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,436,000 after buying an additional 247,589 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 475,547 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,017,000 after buying an additional 65,745 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 301,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,614,000 after buying an additional 36,140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $29.77 on Thursday. First Busey Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.12 and a 12 month high of $31.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.75.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $194.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.59 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 21.00%. On average, analysts expect that First Busey Corporation will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 23rd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 23rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 42.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson increased their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Busey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.00.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In related news, Director Michael Cassens sold 1,441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total transaction of $41,961.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 128,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,743,987.52. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 4,323 shares of company stock worth $130,627 in the last three months. 3.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. Through its banking and wealth management businesses, the company serves individuals, families, businesses and institutions with a range of financial products and services.

Its principal banking subsidiary, Busey Bank, provides consumer and commercial checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, treasury management and other deposit and lending services. First Busey also offers investment management, trust, retirement planning, financial planning and brokerage services through its wealth management operations.

First Busey traces its banking roots to 1868 and primarily serves customers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Florida, with additional markets following its combination with CrossFirst Bankshares.