JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 304,029 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. $BKU

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,229,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 304,029 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $85,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKU. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 158.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 202.0% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in BankUnited by 4,293.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.11, for a total value of $162,388.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,765. The trade was a 23.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total transaction of $254,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,358.08. This trade represents a 20.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 11,953 shares of company stock worth $591,492 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on BankUnited from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Susquehanna raised BankUnited to a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of BankUnited from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.55.

BankUnited Price Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $42.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.19. BankUnited, Inc. has a one year low of $28.21 and a one year high of $52.11.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.09. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.14%.The firm had revenue of $260.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.03%.

BankUnited Profile

BankUnited, Inc is a bank holding company based in Miami Lakes, Florida, operating through its subsidiary BankUnited, National Association. The company provides a broad range of commercial banking products and services, including deposit accounts, commercial lending and treasury management. It serves middle-market and small-business clients, offering tailored financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

The bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans and construction financing, as well as residential mortgage lending.