Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 13,520 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its holdings in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,520 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. owned 0.26% of BankUnited worth $6,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 42.3% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 165.5% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 4th quarter worth $73,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 270.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In related news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $715,103.06. This represents a 4.81% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total value of $764,362.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 59,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,010,210.44. This represents a 27.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKU has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Hovde Group cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.42.

BankUnited Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $34.39 on Friday. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.78 and a 52-week high of $44.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.30. 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 quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 38.51%.

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.