Wells Fargo & Company Downgrades BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) to Equal Weight

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) was downgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $47.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 11.49% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on BKU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.91.

BankUnited Price Performance

BKU opened at $42.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $45.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.45. BankUnited has a 12-month low of $35.10 and a 12-month high of $52.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $284.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.33 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BankUnited will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In other news, Director Douglas Pauls sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.90, for a total value of $143,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 42,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,408.80. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the second quarter worth approximately $518,492,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in BankUnited by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,658,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,390,000 after purchasing an additional 26,292 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the 2nd quarter worth $46,177,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in BankUnited by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 819,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,011,000 after purchasing an additional 67,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BankUnited by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 477,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,299,000 after purchasing an additional 22,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc (NYSE:BKU) is the bank holding company for BankUnited, N.A., a regional financial institution headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida. The bank serves businesses, professionals, institutions and individual consumers through a range of commercial and personal banking products.

BankUnited’s offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage warehouse lending, consumer loans, checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and treasury management services.