Hennessy Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 0.13% of BankUnited worth $3,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in BankUnited by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,583,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,144,000 after acquiring an additional 315,872 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 8.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter worth approximately $515,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in BankUnited by 7.9% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 164,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,814,000 after purchasing an additional 12,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in BankUnited by 3,901.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 574,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,803,000 after purchasing an additional 559,720 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Compass Point upped their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.60.

BankUnited Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BKU stock opened at $39.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.98 and a 200 day moving average of $37.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 1.38.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

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.