Royce & Associates LP Sells 210,181 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its position in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,113,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 210,181 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $40,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $257,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $257,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in BankUnited in the third quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BankUnited by 25.8% in the third quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 11,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 2,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in BankUnited by 37.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 868,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,659,000 after buying an additional 236,174 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.40.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU opened at $40.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67 and a beta of 1.33. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $41.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

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.