Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 174,444 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,657,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of BankUnited as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of BankUnited by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,918 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of BankUnited by 347.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,558 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 2,762 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BankUnited by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of BankUnited by 102.6% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 2,941 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU stock traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $26.71. The company had a trading volume of 967,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 704,510. BankUnited, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.83 and a 52-week high of $34.22. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $26.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.36.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $508.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $239.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a boost from BankUnited's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. BankUnited's payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at $319,365. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BKU. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered shares of BankUnited from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $29.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.50.

BankUnited 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.