BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) announced its earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $255.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.35 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.9 %

BKU opened at $33.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.29. BankUnited has a twelve month low of $26.70 and a twelve month high of $44.45.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 40.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, Director Sanjiv Sobti acquired 1,000 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,103.06. This trade represents a 4.81 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.15% 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.