BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Short Interest Update

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,430,000 shares, a decrease of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 2,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 761,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,674,000 after purchasing an additional 20,218 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 183,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,677,000 after acquiring an additional 59,644 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in BankUnited by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 74,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after acquiring an additional 6,087 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,261,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 3rd quarter valued at about $347,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Stock Performance

BankUnited stock opened at $40.71 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.33. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $41.65.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 47.54%.

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.