Quest Partners LLC Purchases New Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 22,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 632,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,517,000 after purchasing an additional 48,059 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,483,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $265,542,000 after purchasing an additional 280,993 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in BankUnited by 145.8% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 48,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 29,058 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP lifted its stake in BankUnited by 202.7% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 60,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 40,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the 2nd quarter valued at about $799,000. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,410.66. The trade was 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 Stock Up 2.0 %

BKU stock opened at $41.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.97. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. BankUnited, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $42.22.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted 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. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wedbush lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

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.