Insider Selling: 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total value of $51,428.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,126,017.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 stock was 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 stock was sold at an average price of $23.02, for a total value of $52,946.00.

First Busey Stock Performance

Shares of BUSE stock opened at $22.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.06 and a 200-day moving average of $22.53. First Busey Co. has a one year low of $16.26 and a one year high of $25.80. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 0.85.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 20.37%. The business had revenue of $108.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.74 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Busey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Denali Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of First Busey by 3,072.7% in the 1st quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 33,800 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in First Busey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $249,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in First Busey by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,943,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,046,000 after acquiring an additional 56,671 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in First Busey by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,552,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,537,000 after acquiring an additional 57,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in First Busey by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 69,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,719,000 after acquiring an additional 9,789 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.