BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Shares Bought by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 209,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,057 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $7,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in BankUnited by 182.3% during the fourth 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. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth $113,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 118.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter worth $181,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BKU. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.40.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of BKU stock opened at $40.64 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.34 and a 1 year high of $44.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.16. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 1.37.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Analysts predict that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $102,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BankUnited Company 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.