Yousif Capital Management LLC Reduces Stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 713 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,598,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,392,000 after buying an additional 181,493 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in BankUnited by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,696,000 after purchasing an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in BankUnited by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,149,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,889,000 after purchasing an additional 36,328 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at $34,525,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in BankUnited by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 875,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,416,000 after purchasing an additional 127,159 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on BankUnited from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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 report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BankUnited from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total transaction of $764,362.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,899 shares in the company, valued at $2,010,210.44. This trade represents a 27.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John N. Digiacomo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total value of $34,430.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $499,785.88. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of BKU opened at $33.67 on Thursday. BankUnited, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.58 and a 12 month high of $44.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 1.30.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.35 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 12.26%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.51%.

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.