Analysts Set BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Target Price at $35.10

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) has earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.50.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BKU shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on BankUnited from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $127,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,654 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,371. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other BankUnited news, Director William S. Rubenstein sold 7,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total value of $303,314.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $396,576.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $127,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 43,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,593,371. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,507 shares of company stock worth $802,400 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 632,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,517,000 after purchasing an additional 48,059 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in BankUnited by 38.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 226,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,354,000 after acquiring an additional 63,520 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 179,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,810,000 after acquiring an additional 52,788 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,442,000 after acquiring an additional 332,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,331,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of BKU opened at $35.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.62 and a 200 day moving average of $31.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 1.33. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $20.84 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.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 8.41%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

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.