First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Downgraded by StockNews.com

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.60.

First Busey Trading Down 2.6 %

NASDAQ BUSE traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $26.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 554,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 205,796. First Busey has a twelve month low of $17.51 and a twelve month high of $28.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $25.90 and a 200 day moving average of $23.99.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $116.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.65 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.10% and a net margin of 17.18%. Equities research analysts forecast that First Busey will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at First Busey

In other news, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $389,328.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,092,960.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Van A. Dukeman sold 16,539 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $389,328.06. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,277 shares in the company, valued at $9,092,960.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Joseph Powers sold 6,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $143,358.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,107,088.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 264 shares of company stock valued at $5,319 and have sold 22,790 shares valued at $536,477. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in First Busey during the second quarter worth $34,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 257.4% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,998 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,439 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $115,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in First Busey in the 1st quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management lifted its position in First Busey by 27.3% during the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,606 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

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.