First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Sells $51,428.00 in Stock

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total value of $51,428.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 139,804 shares in the company, valued at $3,126,017.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

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

• On Friday, March 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total value of $52,808.00.
• On Thursday, February 15th, Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total value of $52,946.00.

First Busey Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ BUSE traded up $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $21.97. 57,737 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 159,771. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $16.26 and a fifty-two week high of $25.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.51.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $108.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.74 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 20.37%. Sell-side analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is 44.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.50.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at $249,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Busey by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,943,012 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,046,000 after buying an additional 56,671 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in First Busey by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,537,000 after buying an additional 57,392 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in First Busey by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,719,000 after buying an additional 9,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at $238,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.