Legal & General Group Plc Has $8.14 Million Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 213,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,131 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.29% of BankUnited worth $8,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in BankUnited by 182.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 270.6% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in BankUnited in the 4th quarter worth $113,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in BankUnited by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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. This represents a 4.81 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE BKU opened at $31.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.74 and a 1 year high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on BKU shares. Barclays cut their price target on BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group cut their price objective on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.18.

About BankUnited

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.