Short Interest in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Grows By 6.0%

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,630,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the September 30th total of 2,480,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 749,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 1,985 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the first quarter worth about $489,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 4.9% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 130,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 6.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,552,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,467,000 after purchasing an additional 93,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 65,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 896 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.9 %

BankUnited stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 289,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 809,359. BankUnited has a 1 year low of $22.16 and a 1 year high of $39.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.66.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BKU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of 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 target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.40.

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.