Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 10,103 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,103 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.21% of BankUnited worth $6,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKU. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,663,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,163,000. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.07 per share, for a total transaction of $64,140.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 20,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,478.74. This represents a 10.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total transaction of $764,362.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 59,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,010,210.44. This trade represents a 27.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $36.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.15. BankUnited, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $44.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.29.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.35 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on BKU shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Hovde Group lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.55.

BankUnited Company 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.