BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.70.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BKU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of BKU stock opened at $41.70 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.36.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.54%.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $102,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC grew its position in BankUnited by 307.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter valued at about $169,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of BankUnited by 17.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the second quarter worth about $175,000. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

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.