Covestor Ltd Sells 799 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Covestor Ltd cut its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 799 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $38,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BKU. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in BankUnited by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,483,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $265,542,000 after acquiring an additional 280,993 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in BankUnited by 7.4% during the second 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 increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 740,896 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in BankUnited by 37.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 868,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,659,000 after acquiring an additional 236,174 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in BankUnited by 3,901.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 574,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,803,000 after acquiring an additional 559,720 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.40.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU opened at $40.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.51 and a 200-day moving average of $33.60. BankUnited, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the 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 $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.