BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,800,000 shares, a growth of 9.5% from the March 31st total of 3,470,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 882,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Insider Activity at BankUnited

In other news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $319,365. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 472,694 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in BankUnited by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in BankUnited by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 120,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,360,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 935,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,330,000 after purchasing an additional 136,291 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKU has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush lowered their target price on BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on BankUnited in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.50.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU opened at $27.38 on Tuesday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $15.83 and a fifty-two week high of $34.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.36.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 8.71%. The firm had revenue of $508.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This is a boost from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

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.