First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Price Target Cut to $28.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.75.

First Busey Price Performance

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $24.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.88. First Busey has a 12 month low of $21.59 and a 12 month high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a net margin of 17.14% and a return on equity of 8.94%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in First Busey by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 545 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,997 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,983 shares of the bank’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 1.1% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 121,310 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey during the third quarter worth $38,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.