Hovde Group Raises BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target to $41.00

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its target price raised by Hovde Group from $33.00 to $41.00 in a report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. Hovde Group currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on BKU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of BankUnited from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $34.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $33.68.

BankUnited Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BKU opened at $37.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $20.84 and a 12 month high of $37.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.28. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 1.35.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.07. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.41% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BankUnited will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 12th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, Director John N. Digiacomo sold 1,500 shares of BankUnited stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.28, for a total value of $43,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $394,752.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in BankUnited by 6.8% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 12,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 65,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,823,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 0.8% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 112,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,160,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 1.6% during the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 58,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 7.4% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 1,031 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.