First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 9th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the bank on Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th.

First Busey has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. First Busey has a payout ratio of 41.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect First Busey to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.4%.

First Busey Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BUSE opened at $21.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.51. First Busey has a 52 week low of $16.26 and a 52 week high of $25.80.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $108.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.74 million. First Busey had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 20.37%. On average, analysts predict that First Busey will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded First Busey from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.50.

Insider Transactions at First Busey

In other news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total value of $52,808.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,190,934.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael David Cassens sold 2,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.96, for a total value of $52,808.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,190,934.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen M. Jensen acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.98 per share, for a total transaction of $45,960.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 47,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,093,503.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 4,917 shares of company stock worth $117,215 in the last three months. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 102,760.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,102,710 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $793,579,000 after purchasing an additional 32,071,500 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,491,872 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,287,000 after purchasing an additional 279,222 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,203,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,161,000 after purchasing an additional 127,147 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,943,012 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,046,000 after purchasing an additional 56,671 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of First Busey by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,818,626 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,084,000 after purchasing an additional 220,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.