BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,800,000 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the March 31st total of 3,470,000 shares. Currently, 5.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 882,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at BankUnited

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at $319,365. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 106.4% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 16.4% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of BankUnited in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BankUnited by 214,050.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 8,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Stock Up 3.6 %

BKU stock opened at $27.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. BankUnited has a 12 month low of $15.83 and a 12 month high of $34.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.34.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $508.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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. UBS Group cut shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $29.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wedbush cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

About BankUnited

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.