BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Announces $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 26th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of 0.29 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%.

BankUnited has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. BankUnited has a dividend payout ratio of 36.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect BankUnited to earn $3.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.7%.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $38.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.22 and a 200-day moving average of $36.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 1.36.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush upped their target price on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $102,950.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,410.66. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.19% 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.