First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Short Interest Update

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,730,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the November 30th total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 269,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BUSE. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens lowered shares of First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in First Busey by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 482,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,549,000 after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in First Busey by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,295,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,723,000 after buying an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in First Busey by 81.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 135,069 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,516,000 after buying an additional 60,506 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of BUSE stock remained flat at $23.57 on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 178,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,525. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $25.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.60. First Busey has a twelve month low of $21.68 and a twelve month high of $28.97. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15 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 (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. First Busey had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The business had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Busey will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.