Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Stock

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) had its price target increased by Barclays from $41.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider's stock.

BKU has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on BankUnited from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Hovde Group raised their price target on BankUnited from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $41.00) on shares of BankUnited in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $41.18.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU traded down $0.34 on Thursday, hitting $38.47. The stock had a trading volume of 716,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 829,491. BankUnited has a twelve month low of $28.21 and a twelve month high of $44.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28 and a beta of 1.29.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.12. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.00% and a net margin of 13.19%. The firm had revenue of $273.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $267.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, CFO Leslie Lunak sold 22,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.56, for a total value of $764,362.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,010,210.44. This trade represents a 27.55% decrease 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, Director John N. Digiacomo sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.43, for a total transaction of $34,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $499,785.88. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,598,953 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $366,392,000 after buying an additional 181,493 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 6.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,849,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $63,689,000 after buying an additional 107,962 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 3.8% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,461,439 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $50,332,000 after buying an additional 53,905 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 8.8% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,250,997 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,084,000 after buying an additional 101,170 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BankUnited Company Profile

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.