Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Stock

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) had its price target lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

BUSE has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com raised First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Stephens cut First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

First Busey Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $26.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 0.86. 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 has a 12-month low of $21.68 and a 12-month high of $28.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.82 and its 200 day moving average is $25.28.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $170.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. First Busey’s payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BUSE. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Huntington National Bank bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 257.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of First Busey during the 3rd quarter valued at $171,000. 56.49% of the stock is currently 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.