Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Sector Perform” Rating for BankUnited (NYSE:BKU)

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $37.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BankUnited from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush raised their price objective on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price target on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.40.

BankUnited Stock Performance

BKU opened at $34.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $21.02 and a 52-week high of $39.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.47 and its 200-day moving average is $32.34.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.41% and a return on equity of 7.76%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William S. Rubenstein sold 7,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.57, for a total transaction of $303,314.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,576.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in BankUnited by 307.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the second quarter worth $74,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in BankUnited by 17.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in BankUnited in the third quarter valued at $181,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.