BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

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

BKU has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE BKU opened at $40.71 on Wednesday. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $24.34 and a 12 month high of $41.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.51 and a 200-day moving average of $33.60. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $515.24 million during 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 last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 48.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 183,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,677,000 after purchasing an additional 59,644 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in BankUnited by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 74,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 6,087 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in BankUnited in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,261,000. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in BankUnited in the third quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter worth $315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.