Jefferies Financial Group Cuts BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Price Target to $60.00

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its target price lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $65.00 to $60.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Hovde Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $55.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.45.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of BankUnited stock opened at $50.49 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.16. The company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 1.31. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $28.21 and a fifty-two week high of $52.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.82.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.09. BankUnited had a return on equity of 9.09% and a net margin of 14.14%.The firm had revenue of $288.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $279.76 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, insider Jay D. Richards sold 3,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.83, for a total value of $174,703.98. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 35,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,778,283.21. This trade represents a 8.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in BankUnited in the 3rd quarter valued at about $698,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new position in BankUnited during the second quarter worth about $1,356,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of BankUnited by 24.7% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 575,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,495,000 after acquiring an additional 113,974 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited during the third quarter valued at about $6,121,000. Finally, Bayview Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BankUnited by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bayview Asset Management LLC now owns 40,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 12,500 shares during the period. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BankUnited Company Profile

BankUnited, Inc is a bank holding company based in Miami Lakes, Florida, operating through its subsidiary BankUnited, National Association. The company provides a broad range of commercial banking products and services, including deposit accounts, commercial lending and treasury management. It serves middle-market and small-business clients, offering tailored financing solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

The bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans and construction financing, as well as residential mortgage lending.