Brokerages Set BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) PT at $40.55

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.55.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

BankUnited Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of BKU opened at $36.10 on Thursday. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $26.78 and a 12 month high of $44.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.96 and its 200-day moving average is $37.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.35 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $715,103.06. This represents a 4.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 14,050.0% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 182.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 165.5% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth $73,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

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.