First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04, Yahoo Finance reports. First Busey had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $170.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS.

First Busey Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $24.55 on Friday. First Busey has a 1-year low of $17.51 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.84.

First Busey Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. First Busey’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens lowered First Busey from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Busey from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of First Busey from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.80.

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.