Denali Advisors LLC Has $839,000 Position in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) by 3,072.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,900 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 33,800 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Busey were worth $839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BUSE. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in First Busey by 1,143.5% in 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 last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Busey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $238,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in First Busey during the 4th quarter valued at $249,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Busey by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,819 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,669 shares in the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.81, for a total transaction of $54,763.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 137,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,517.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of First Busey stock traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, hitting $23.71. The company 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 cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.97 and a 200-day simple 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $110.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.06 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 18.08%. Research analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of First Busey in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Busey has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.75.

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.