First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the bank on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th.

First Busey has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.8% annually over the last three years. First Busey has a dividend payout ratio of 35.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Busey to earn $2.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.5%.

First Busey Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of BUSE opened at $19.56 on Friday. First Busey has a 1-year low of $18.40 and a 1-year high of $28.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.75.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Busey will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Busey news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw bought 1,700 shares of First Busey stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $21.70 per share, with a total value of $36,890.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 482,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,462,503.10. This trade represents a 0.35 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of First Busey from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of First Busey in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.