Analysts Set BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Price Target at $40.70

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.45.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BKU. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

BankUnited Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $40.55 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 1.36. 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 50 day moving average price of $38.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.38. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45.

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

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.86%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in BankUnited by 7.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,583,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,144,000 after buying an additional 315,872 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,247,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,778,000 after acquiring an additional 740,896 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,674,000 after purchasing an additional 20,218 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 868,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,659,000 after purchasing an additional 236,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in BankUnited by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 663,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,163,000 after purchasing an additional 39,797 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% 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.