LSV Asset Management Purchases 80,577 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,427,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,577 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $78,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BKU. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 43,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 2,762 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BankUnited in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,306,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BankUnited by 11,419.0% during the 4th quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 11,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 11,419 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 4th quarter worth $147,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,459,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,324,000 after purchasing an additional 513,342 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,365. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays started coverage on BankUnited in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

BankUnited Price Performance

BankUnited stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.85. The stock had a trading volume of 624,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,608. BankUnited, Inc. has a one year low of $15.83 and a one year high of $34.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $26.92 and its 200 day moving average is $27.43.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $508.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.84 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

BankUnited Company Profile

BankUnited, Inc operates as the bank holding company for BankUnited, a national banking association that provides a range of banking services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, money market deposit, and savings accounts; certificates of deposit; and treasury, commercial payment, and cash management services.