First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC decreased its holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 860,977 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in First Busey were worth $20,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 111,799 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in First Busey by 161.1% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in First Busey by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,997 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in First Busey by 6.9% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BUSE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com lowered First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. This represents a 0.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

First Busey Stock Performance

NASDAQ BUSE opened at $22.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $140.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. First Busey’s payout ratio is currently 93.46%.

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.