First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $21.59 and last traded at $21.95, with a volume of 15563 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.92.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens downgraded First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Busey Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 16.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BUSE. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new stake in First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $757,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in First Busey by 168.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 149,279 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,884,000 after acquiring an additional 93,733 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Busey by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after acquiring an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 61.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 41,550 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 15,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,549,000 after purchasing an additional 39,900 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.