BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.55.

BKU has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised BankUnited from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $41.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th.

BankUnited Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $33.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.12. BankUnited has a 12-month low of $26.78 and a 12-month high of $44.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $255.41 million for 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 quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from BankUnited's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. BankUnited's payout ratio is 38.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,782 shares in the company, valued at $715,103.06. This represents a 4.81 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 20.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BKU. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter worth $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC bought a new position in BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,663,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in BankUnited by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $107,696,000 after acquiring an additional 322,368 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 36.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,059,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $36,496,000 after acquiring an additional 285,092 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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