BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.18.

BankUnited Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:BKU opened at $33.30 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $38.71 and its 200-day moving average is $38.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. BankUnited has a 52 week low of $24.34 and a 52 week high of $44.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 1.40.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. This represents a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $18,663,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the third quarter worth about $17,745,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares during the last quarter. 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.