BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.31

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. This is a 6.9% increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

BankUnited has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% annually over the last three years. BankUnited has a payout ratio of 31.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BankUnited to earn $3.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.0%.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.44. 455,002 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 705,989. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.04.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 21,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Compass Point lifted their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.45.

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.