Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New $225,000 Investment in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE)

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 9,541 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in First Busey by 1,173.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,439 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in First Busey in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in First Busey by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 822.7% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in First Busey by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 7,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Busey Price Performance

BUSE stock opened at $21.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.53. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 0.75. First Busey Co. has a 52-week low of $18.40 and a 52-week high of $28.97.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. The business had revenue of $140.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.15 million. Research analysts expect that First Busey Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Busey Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BUSE. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James decreased their target price on First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded First Busey from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Busey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,700 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.70 per share, for a total transaction of $36,890.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 482,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,462,503.10. This trade represents a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.