Vestcor Inc Purchases 9,766 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Vestcor Inc grew its position in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) by 127.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,766 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in BankUnited were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKU. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter worth approximately $17,745,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter worth $5,302,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BankUnited by 194.1% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 193,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,035,000 after acquiring an additional 127,415 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth $3,668,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of BankUnited by 40.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 275,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,041,000 after acquiring an additional 78,753 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BKU shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 2,000 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.07 per share, for a total transaction of $64,140.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,782 shares in the company, valued at $666,478.74. This trade represents a 10.65 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of BKU opened at $34.46 on Monday. BankUnited, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $44.45. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.17.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.66%.

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.