FBR Capital reiterated a Market Perform rating and $32.00 price target on First Busey (NASDAQ: BUSE) following the company's 4Q earnings report. Operating EPS of $0.41 was in line with consensus estimates.

Analyst Bob Ramsey commented, "We reiterate our Market Perform rating and $32 price target, equal to 17.3x our 2018 EPS estimate, on First Busey following 4Q16 results. Aside from soft mortgage banking, this was a relatively good quarter, with stronger net interest income, better loan growth that was back-end loaded in the quarter, and encouraging trends in newer markets. Full-year operating EPS grew 7% YOY. We like First Busey's strong profitability (1.06% ROAA, 12.3% ROTCE) and fee-rich (36% of revenue) income stream, but we remain on the sidelines given relative valuation. We reiterate our respective 2017 and 2018 operating EPS estimates of $1.75 and $1.85."

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Shares of First Busey closed at $30.27 yesterday.