What is DA Davidson’s Forecast for First Busey Q1 Earnings?

First Busey Co. (NASDAQ:BUSE) – DA Davidson lifted their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of First Busey in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 26th. DA Davidson analyst J. Rulis now forecasts that the bank will earn $0.54 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.22. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for First Busey’s current full-year earnings is $2.61 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for First Busey’s FY2025 earnings at $2.60 EPS.

First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. First Busey had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 17.14%.

BUSE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of First Busey in a report on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of First Busey in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on First Busey from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Busey has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

First Busey Stock Performance

BUSE stock opened at $23.99 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.22. First Busey has a fifty-two week low of $21.59 and a fifty-two week high of $28.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

First Busey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. This is a positive change from First Busey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. First Busey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Busey

In other news, Director Stanley J. Bradshaw acquired 1,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.75 per share, for a total transaction of $43,652.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 437,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,390,173.75. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 1,173.5% in 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 bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Huntington National Bank bought a new position in shares of First Busey in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 161.1% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Busey by 822.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the last quarter. 56.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.