BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target Raised to $43.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $42.00 to $43.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

BKU has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.40.

BankUnited Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $39.90 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.38. BankUnited has a 52 week low of $24.34 and a 52 week high of $44.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In related news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total transaction of $102,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. This trade represents a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in BankUnited by 8.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 2nd quarter worth $515,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 7.9% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 164,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,814,000 after purchasing an additional 12,021 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 3,901.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 574,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,803,000 after purchasing an additional 559,720 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in BankUnited in the second quarter valued at about $169,000. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.