D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 176,470 Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) by 74.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 176,470 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.08% of BankUnited worth $2,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in BankUnited in the 4th quarter worth about $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,663,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in BankUnited by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $107,696,000 after acquiring an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in BankUnited during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,163,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total value of $764,362.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,899 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,010,210.44. The trade was a 27.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered BankUnited from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on BankUnited in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised BankUnited from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.42.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $34.55. 548,596 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 797,477. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. BankUnited, Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.78 and a 12-month high of $44.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $33.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.07.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $264.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. This is an increase from BankUnited's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited's payout ratio is currently 38.51%.

About BankUnited

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.