BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

BKU has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays started coverage on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

BankUnited Price Performance

BKU opened at $26.71 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.86 and a 200-day moving average of $27.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.36. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $15.83 and a 1-year high of $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $508.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.84 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total transaction of $62,106.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,365. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 422.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 584,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,368,000 after purchasing an additional 472,694 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 120,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,360,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,330,000 after acquiring an additional 136,291 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.