BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Short Interest Update

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,430,000 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 2,630,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 761,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BKU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,911,000. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU stock opened at $41.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.33. BankUnited has a 12-month low of $24.34 and a 12-month high of $41.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.72 and a 200-day moving average of $33.86.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.54%.

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.