BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Shares Sold by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of BankUnited worth $3,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 8.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in BankUnited by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 103,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC raised its position in BankUnited by 25.8% during the third quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 11,061 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 2,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in BankUnited by 118.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This 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 owned by insiders.

BankUnited Trading Up 1.1 %

BankUnited stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.81. The company had a trading volume of 511,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 571,408. BankUnited, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.34 and a 12-month high of $44.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $39.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 1.38. 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 (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BKU shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wedbush lifted their target price 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 restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $42.60.

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.