BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Short Interest Up 14.7% in January

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,570,000 shares, a growth of 14.7% from the January 15th total of 2,240,000 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 741,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BKU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Barclays cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.40.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU traded down $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.81. 1,157,632 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,483. The company's 50 day moving average is $39.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 1.37. 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 52 week low of $24.34 and a 52 week high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. 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 37.66%.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 182.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 847 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 270.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at about $113,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.