Legal & General Group Plc Has $8.14 Million Stock Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 213,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,131 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $8,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,696,000 after purchasing an additional 322,368 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 362,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,836,000 after buying an additional 10,064 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at about $766,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 462.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 22,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,598,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,392,000 after acquiring an additional 181,493 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BKU shares. StockNews.com lowered BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group lowered their target price on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.18.

BankUnited Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $31.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited, Inc. has a one year low of $25.74 and a one year high of $44.45. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.40.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 40.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.07 per share, for a total transaction of $64,140.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 20,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,478.74. The trade was a 10.65 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is 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.