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

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,430,000 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 2,630,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 761,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BankUnited from $34.50 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup dropped their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.40.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

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

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in BankUnited by 0.9% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 34,582 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in BankUnited by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BankUnited by 1.0% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 48,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in BankUnited by 17.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in BankUnited by 2.2% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of BankUnited stock traded up $0.15 on Monday, hitting $40.86. The stock had a trading volume of 169,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,919. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $36.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.69. BankUnited has a one year low of $24.34 and a one year high of $41.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BankUnited will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited's payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

BankUnited Company Profile

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.