BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Shares Purchased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 34.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,173 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $1,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in BankUnited by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,696,000 after acquiring an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in BankUnited by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 362,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,836,000 after purchasing an additional 10,064 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at about $766,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in BankUnited by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,598,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,392,000 after buying an additional 181,493 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BKU. Hovde Group lowered their price target on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.55.

BankUnited Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:BKU opened at $33.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $44.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.16 and a 200-day moving average of $37.21.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its 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. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The firm had revenue of $255.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Equities analysts predict that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 38.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. This represents a 20.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.