BankUnited, Inc. $BKU Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 59.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 96,055 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.09% of BankUnited worth $2,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in BankUnited during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in BankUnited in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 158.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in BankUnited by 202.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in BankUnited by 7,588.9% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sanjiv Sobti sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total value of $254,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,816 shares in the company, valued at $957,358.08. This trade represents a 20.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,447 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.11, for a total value of $162,388.17. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $541,765. This trade represents a 23.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 11,953 shares of company stock worth $591,492 over the last 90 days. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on BankUnited from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BankUnited from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on BankUnited from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Monday, December 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $44.18 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. BankUnited, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.21 and a 12 month high of $52.11.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.09. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.14%.The firm had revenue of $260.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.76 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.03%.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc is a bank holding company based in Miami Lakes, Florida, operating through its subsidiary BankUnited, National Association. The company provides a broad range of commercial banking products and services, including deposit accounts, commercial lending and treasury management. It serves middle-market and small-business clients, offering tailored financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

The bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans and construction financing, as well as residential mortgage lending.