Wells Fargo & Company MN Increases Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 125,822 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,887 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.17% of BankUnited worth $4,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BKU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BankUnited by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,598,953 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $366,392,000 after purchasing an additional 181,493 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $3,668,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 403,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,383,000 after purchasing an additional 74,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 183,240 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,677,000 after purchasing an additional 59,644 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BKU shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of BankUnited from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler raised BankUnited from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Hovde Group dropped their target price on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.18.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU traded up $1.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,058,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,951. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $34.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.37. BankUnited, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.70 and a 12-month high of $44.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from BankUnited's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 2,000 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.07 per share, with a total value of $64,140.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $666,478.74. This represents a 10.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company's stock.

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.