BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Raymond James Financial upgraded the stock to a moderate buy rating. The company traded as high as $46.97 and last traded at $46.7950, with a volume of 176707 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.20.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BKU. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Hovde Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Monday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in BankUnited by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,596,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,400,000 after buying an additional 51,926 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 23.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,070,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,183,000 after acquiring an additional 576,843 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 9.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,163,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,576,000 after purchasing an additional 185,937 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 0.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,776,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,223,000 after purchasing an additional 13,555 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC grew its position in BankUnited by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 1,535,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,586,000 after purchasing an additional 265,439 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.8%

The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.16.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.11. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.18% and a net margin of 13.98%.The company had revenue of $275.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $280.33 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. BankUnited’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.93%.

About BankUnited

BankUnited, Inc is a bank holding company based in Miami Lakes, Florida, operating through its subsidiary BankUnited, National Association. The company provides a broad range of commercial banking products and services, including deposit accounts, commercial lending and treasury management. It serves middle-market and small-business clients, offering tailored financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

The bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans and construction financing, as well as residential mortgage lending.