First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BUSE. Zacks Research lowered First Busey from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of First Busey from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial downgraded First Busey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson boosted their target price on First Busey from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Busey in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Busey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.00.

First Busey Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BUSE opened at $28.81 on Friday. First Busey has a one year low of $22.12 and a one year high of $31.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.90.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.04). First Busey had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business had revenue of $194.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.77 million. On average, analysts predict that First Busey will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other First Busey news, Director Michael Cassens sold 1,441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.12, for a total transaction of $41,961.92. Following the sale, the director directly owned 128,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,743,987.52. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 4,323 shares of company stock valued at $130,627 in the last quarter. 3.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Busey

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of First Busey by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 142,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,600,000 after acquiring an additional 44,551 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in First Busey by 16.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 475,547 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,017,000 after purchasing an additional 65,745 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in First Busey in the second quarter valued at about $32,712,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc boosted its holdings in First Busey by 101.3% during the first quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 492,113 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,436,000 after purchasing an additional 247,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Busey by 161.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 31,556 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 19,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.49% of the company’s stock.

About First Busey

First Busey Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. Through its banking and wealth management businesses, the company serves individuals, families, businesses and institutions with a range of financial products and services.

Its principal banking subsidiary, Busey Bank, provides consumer and commercial checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, treasury management and other deposit and lending services. First Busey also offers investment management, trust, retirement planning, financial planning and brokerage services through its wealth management operations.

First Busey traces its banking roots to 1868 and primarily serves customers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Florida, with additional markets following its combination with CrossFirst Bankshares.