Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $14.13 Million Stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 57.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 370,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 498,664 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $14,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in BankUnited by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,583,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,144,000 after acquiring an additional 315,872 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in BankUnited by 49.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,247,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,778,000 after purchasing an additional 740,896 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BankUnited by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,674,000 after purchasing an additional 20,218 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in BankUnited by 3,901.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 574,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,803,000 after buying an additional 559,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BKU. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.60.

BankUnited Stock Up 1.1 %

BKU stock opened at $39.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.98 and its 200-day moving average is $37.19. BankUnited, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $44.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

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

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of BankUnited 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 sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,410.66. This trade represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

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.