BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $41.35 and last traded at $41.34, with a volume of 50792 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $39.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BKU shares. Hovde Group upped their price objective on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush raised their price objective on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Wednesday. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.40.

BankUnited Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BankUnited, Inc. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.54%.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 Trading of BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 307.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the 1st quarter worth approximately $57,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BankUnited during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 17.4% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of BankUnited during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $181,000. 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.