Denali Advisors LLC Takes $799,000 Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 27,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 8.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 632,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,517,000 after buying an additional 48,059 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in BankUnited by 38.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 226,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,354,000 after acquiring an additional 63,520 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at $1,329,000. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 179,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,810,000 after purchasing an additional 52,788 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKU. Barclays raised their price target on shares of BankUnited from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BankUnited from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Hovde Group increased their price objective on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.00.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In related news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $127,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,593,371. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BankUnited news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $127,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,654 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,371. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 10,143 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.61, for a total value of $371,335.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 37,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,361,416.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,507 shares of company stock worth $802,400. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BankUnited Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $36.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $35.88 and a 200 day moving average of $30.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69 and a beta of 1.33. BankUnited, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.84 and a fifty-two week high of $39.51.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 8.41%. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 12th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

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.