BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 9.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU stock opened at $25.18 on Thursday. BankUnited has a twelve month low of $15.83 and a twelve month high of $34.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 48.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,365. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter worth $31,064,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,465,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $117,782,000 after purchasing an additional 660,759 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 175.2% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 540,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,814,000 after purchasing an additional 343,997 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 86.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 733,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,242,000 after purchasing an additional 340,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on BankUnited from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays initiated coverage on BankUnited in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.44.

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.