Brokerages Set BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Target Price at $30.50

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.50.

BKU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BankUnited from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,365. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth approximately $147,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BankUnited by 16.4% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the 4th quarter worth $238,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 214,050.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 8,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Stock Up 0.3 %

BKU opened at $28.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $15.83 and a fifty-two week high of $34.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.92 and a 200-day moving average of $27.43.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $508.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.84 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

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.