MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 1,791 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of BankUnited worth $1,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 182.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings 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 worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 270.6% in 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 in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at $113,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in BankUnited by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 1,883 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 21,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKU has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Hovde Group cut their price target on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.91.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $33.17 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.20. BankUnited, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.70 and a 1 year high of $44.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. 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 will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be 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 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.26%.

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.