Hovde Group Cuts BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target to $44.00

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its price objective trimmed by Hovde Group from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on BKU. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.45.

BankUnited Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $35.20 on Tuesday. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $37.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.01.

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. On average, analysts expect that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, Director Sanjiv Sobti bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total value of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 362,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,836,000 after acquiring an additional 10,064 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth $766,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 462.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 22,981 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 211.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 59,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after buying an additional 40,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter worth $347,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.