BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 7.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 422,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,226 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $9,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKU. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in BankUnited by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,217,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,066,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,550 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $31,064,000. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in BankUnited by 72.7% during the second quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,510,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,541,000 after acquiring an additional 635,779 shares during the last quarter. HRT Financial LP acquired a new position in BankUnited during the first quarter worth about $9,868,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in BankUnited by 9.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,804,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $108,491,000 after acquiring an additional 425,740 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of BankUnited from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of BankUnited from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

BankUnited Price Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $27.17 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.39. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.31. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.83 and a 1 year high of $40.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.08). BankUnited had a net margin of 11.86% and a return on equity of 8.91%. The company had revenue of $498.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 13th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 12th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 36.86%.

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.