Bailard Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in BankUnited, Inc. $BKU

Bailard Inc. lowered its stake in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 53.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,900 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKU. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in BankUnited in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 14,050.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 697.4% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in BankUnited by 9,157.5% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BKU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Hovde Group increased their target price on BankUnited from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $41.00) on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.91.

BankUnited Stock Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $39.64 on Friday. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.21 and a 52 week high of $44.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.82 and a 200-day moving average of $37.10.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.11. BankUnited had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 9.18%. The firm had revenue of $275.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $280.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.93%.

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.