BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.5455.

BKU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 3,506 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.83, for a total transaction of $174,703.98. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,778,283.21. The trade was a 8.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjiv Sobti sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total value of $254,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,358.08. This trade represents a 20.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 11,953 shares of company stock worth $591,492 over the last quarter. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in BankUnited during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter worth $34,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in shares of BankUnited by 158.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Stock Down 1.1%

BKU stock opened at $44.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business’s 50-day moving average is $47.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.46. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $28.21 and a fifty-two week high of $52.11.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.09. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.14%.The business had revenue of $260.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $279.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.29%.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc is a bank holding company based in Miami Lakes, Florida, operating through its subsidiary BankUnited, National Association. The company provides a broad range of commercial banking products and services, including deposit accounts, commercial lending and treasury management. It serves middle-market and small-business clients, offering tailored financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

The bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans and construction financing, as well as residential mortgage lending.