BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target Raised to $45.00

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its price target lifted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $38.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.70.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BKU opened at $41.70 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.95. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $44.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.54%.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In related news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $102,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,428,410.66. This trade represents a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This trade represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BKU. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in BankUnited by 5.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 56,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BankUnited by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,674,000 after buying an additional 20,218 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in BankUnited by 48.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 183,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,677,000 after buying an additional 59,644 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in BankUnited by 8.8% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 74,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,732,000 after buying an additional 6,087 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,261,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

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.