EMC Capital Management Sells 5,404 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

EMC Capital Management lessened its stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 38.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,606 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,404 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in First Busey were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BUSE. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in First Busey by 21.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,739,000 after buying an additional 19,831 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in First Busey by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 30,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in First Busey by 397.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,660 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 8,515 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in First Busey during the 2nd quarter valued at $352,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the 3rd quarter worth $540,000. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BUSE shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.75.

First Busey Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $24.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.88. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $21.59 and a 52-week high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. Analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. First Busey’s payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

First Busey 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.