27,040 Shares in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Bought by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 27,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,032,000.

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

BankUnited Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BKU opened at $35.81 on Wednesday. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.78 and a 1 year high of $44.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.14.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $255.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.35 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total value of $764,362.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,010,210.44. This trade represents a 27.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 12,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on BKU. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Hovde Group cut their price objective on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BankUnited from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.55.

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.