Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Invests $34.53 Million in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 904,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,525,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 1.21% of BankUnited at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BKU. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 182.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 42.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth approximately $113,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased 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. Hovde Group lowered their price target on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on BankUnited from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.55.

BankUnited Stock Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $33.69 on Tuesday. BankUnited, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.78 and a fifty-two week high of $44.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.18. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.35 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.07 per share, with a total value of $64,140.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,782 shares in the company, valued at $666,478.74. The trade was a 10.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.15% 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.