BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.70.

A number of research firms recently commented on BKU. Barclays increased their price target on BankUnited from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target 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. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 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. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,410.66. This trade represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 34,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in BankUnited by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 48,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BankUnited Price Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $41.70 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.04. BankUnited has a one year low of $24.34 and a one year high of $44.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09 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 earnings results 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 net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

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.