JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,499,112 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 512,218 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 3.34% of BankUnited worth $91,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 7.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,583,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,144,000 after buying an additional 315,872 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in BankUnited by 49.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,247,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,778,000 after acquiring an additional 740,896 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in BankUnited by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,674,000 after acquiring an additional 20,218 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in BankUnited by 37.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 236,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BankUnited by 6.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 663,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,163,000 after purchasing an additional 39,797 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Compass Point boosted their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the 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 owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Price Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $37.92 on Friday. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.49 and its 200 day moving average is $36.40. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 1.36.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.54%.

About BankUnited

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.