First Trust Advisors LP Has $6.90 Million Stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 180,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,552 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $6,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKU. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 182.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BankUnited by 270.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $113,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BKU shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Hovde Group decreased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.91.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE BKU opened at $33.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.20. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.70 and a 52 week high of $44.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The business had revenue of $255.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 40.26%.

BankUnited 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.