Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 11,062 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,036 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,062 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of BankUnited worth $2,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in BankUnited by 182.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 270.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at $113,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,028 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 1,883 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BKU. StockNews.com downgraded BankUnited from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler raised BankUnited from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Hovde Group cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $42.18.

BankUnited Price Performance

BKU stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.33. 1,208,689 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 778,546. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.14 and a 52 week high of $44.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from BankUnited's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.26%.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 2,000 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.07 per share, for a total transaction of $64,140.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $666,478.74. This trade represents a 10.65 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,955. This represents a 20.89 % 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.

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.