BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.40.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BKU. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th.

BankUnited Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:BKU opened at $35.41 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.36. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $21.02 and a 12 month high of $39.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.41% and a return on equity of 7.76%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts predict that BankUnited will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In related news, Director William S. Rubenstein sold 7,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $303,314.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $396,576.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BankUnited by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,483,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $265,542,000 after acquiring an additional 280,993 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in BankUnited by 7.4% in the 2nd 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 raised its holdings in BankUnited by 49.2% in 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 buying an additional 740,896 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in BankUnited by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,552,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,467,000 after buying an additional 93,119 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in BankUnited by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,330,000 after acquiring an additional 136,291 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.