EntryPoint Capital LLC Purchases New Position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $328,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in BankUnited by 270.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $113,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,883 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on BKU shares. Hovde Group reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Compass Point upped their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.45.

BankUnited Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BKU stock opened at $35.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.01. BankUnited, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 $430,955. This represents a 20.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.