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

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.36.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BKU. Wedbush boosted their target price on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. 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. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU opened at $37.92 on Friday. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.40. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 1.36. 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 (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. The business had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter worth $74,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in BankUnited by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 2nd quarter valued at about $169,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in BankUnited by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter worth approximately $181,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.