BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.40.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BKU. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Compass Point lifted their price objective on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth about $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth about $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth about $18,663,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of BankUnited in the third quarter worth about $17,745,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in BankUnited by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $37.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $24.34 and a 12 month high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. BankUnited's payout ratio is presently 37.66%.

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.

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