BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day 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. The stock had previously closed at $45.20.

BKU has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Hovde Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 51,926 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position 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 valued at $117,183,000 after buying an additional 576,843 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $82,576,000 after buying an additional 185,937 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BankUnited by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,776,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,223,000 after acquiring an additional 13,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 Stock Up 0.8%

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 quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.16.

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

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 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.