Artemis Investment Management LLP Lowers Stock Position in BankUnited, Inc. $BKU

Key Points

• Artemis Investment Management cut its BankUnited stake by 22.9% in the third quarter, selling 581,636 shares and retaining 1.96 million shares worth approximately $82.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 99.7% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with six Buy, five Hold, and three Sell ratings; BankUnited has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $49.91.
• BankUnited’s shares recently traded at $42.63, while its latest quarterly results missed consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, representing a 3.1% annualized yield.

Artemis Investment Management LLP lessened its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) by 22.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,959,811 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 581,636 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP owned approximately 2.75% of BankUnited worth $82,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in BankUnited by 21.9% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 306,147 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,919,000 after purchasing an additional 54,900 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter valued at $49,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 85.4% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 938 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,407,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BKU. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of BankUnited in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Hovde Group lowered their price target on shares of BankUnited from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BankUnited from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.91.

BankUnited Price Performance

NYSE BKU traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $42.63. The company had a trading volume of 230,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 888,007. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.20. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.10 and a 52 week high of $52.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.03). BankUnited had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The company had revenue of $284.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio is 36.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, Director Douglas Pauls sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.90, for a total value of $143,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 42,472 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,408.80. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

BankUnited Profile

BankUnited, Inc NYSE: BKU is the bank holding company for BankUnited, N.A., a regional financial institution headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida. The bank serves businesses, professionals, institutions and individual consumers through a range of commercial and personal banking products.

BankUnited's offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage warehouse lending, consumer loans, checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and treasury management services.

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