Denali Advisors LLC Purchases 33,800 Shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 3,072.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,800 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of First Busey worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in First Busey by 1,143.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Busey in the fourth quarter worth about $249,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Busey by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in First Busey by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 23,118 shares of the bank’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 3,669 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE stock traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, reaching $23.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 61,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,935. First Busey Co. has a 52 week low of $17.51 and a 52 week high of $25.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $22.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.02). First Busey had a net margin of 18.08% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The firm had revenue of $110.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.06 million. As a group, analysts predict that First Busey Co. will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. First Busey’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BUSE. StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.36, for a total value of $51,428.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,804 shares in the company, valued at $3,126,017.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Busey 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.