Hovde Group Cuts BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target to $52.00

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its target price lowered by Hovde Group from $53.00 to $52.00 in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

BKU has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Citigroup reduced their target price on BankUnited from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on BankUnited in a report on Monday, August 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BankUnited currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.55.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $44.54 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.69 and a 200 day moving average of $46.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 1.17. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $35.10 and a 12 month high of $52.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.03). BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 14.76%.The firm had revenue of $284.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $290.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 36.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Douglas Pauls sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.90, for a total value of $143,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 42,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,408.80. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the first quarter worth approximately $6,797,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $518,492,000. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 1st quarter valued at $1,026,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 4,572.7% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 25,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 25,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 819,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,011,000 after purchasing an additional 67,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc (NYSE:BKU) is the bank holding company for BankUnited, N.A., a national bank headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida. The company provides banking products and services to commercial and middle-market businesses, public-sector organizations, and individual consumers.

Its offerings include commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate financing, residential and commercial mortgage lending, consumer loans, deposit accounts, treasury management, online and mobile banking, and other cash-management services.