Cerity Partners LLC Takes Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 11,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 8.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 632,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,517,000 after acquiring an additional 48,059 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter valued at approximately $799,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in BankUnited in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $515,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in BankUnited by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 41,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,213,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter worth $557,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.70.

BankUnited Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $41.70 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.36. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.34 and a 52 week high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.54%.

BankUnited 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.