First Busey’s (BUSE) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by stock analysts at DA Davidson in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $25.00 price target on the bank’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.95% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down previously from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of First Busey stock traded up $0.05 on Tuesday, reaching $24.05. 70,817 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 338,693. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. First Busey 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 current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.83 and a 200 day moving average of $25.25.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Busey

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First Busey by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,500,343 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,503,000 after purchasing an additional 110,895 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in First Busey by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,497,004 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,952,000 after buying an additional 6,367 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $33,723,000 after acquiring an additional 22,096 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of First Busey by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,122,896 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,467,000 after acquiring an additional 58,982 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of First Busey by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,672,000 after acquiring an additional 12,879 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is 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.