BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Raised to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $48.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $38.00.

BKU has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wedbush upped their price target on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their target price on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.40.

BankUnited Price Performance

NYSE BKU opened at $40.71 on Wednesday. BankUnited has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $41.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.65.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BKU. CWM LLC boosted its position in BankUnited by 307.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in BankUnited in the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BankUnited in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in BankUnited in the 2nd quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in BankUnited by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.