BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

BankUnited Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of BKU stock opened at $31.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. This represents a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,663,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter valued at approximately $17,745,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 322,368 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BankUnited Company 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.