Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $48.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock, up from their previous price target of $38.00.

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

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BKU traded up $0.81 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.59. The stock had a trading volume of 410,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 815,411. BankUnited has a 12-month low of $23.83 and a 12-month 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 capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.41.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,911,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC raised its stake in BankUnited by 307.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in BankUnited in the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in BankUnited in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the second quarter worth $169,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 17.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.