Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Takes Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 486,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,745,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in BankUnited by 307.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $169,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 17.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the second quarter valued at approximately $175,000. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In other news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,410.66. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKU has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays upped their target price on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

BankUnited Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BKU opened at $42.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.58. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.54%.

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.