Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $48.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $38.00.

BKU has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush increased their price target on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup dropped 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

BankUnited Stock Up 1.3 %

BankUnited stock opened at $40.29 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $36.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $23.83 and a 1-year high of $41.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the transaction, 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in BankUnited by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 65,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 896 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 887.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,859,000 after purchasing an additional 59,676 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 6.8% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 12,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in BankUnited during the first quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BankUnited by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 112,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,160,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.