Short Interest in BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Declines By 8.6%

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,220,000 shares, a decline of 8.6% from the October 31st total of 2,430,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 819,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total value of $421,527.58. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. The trade was a 9.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.18, for a total value of $102,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,428,410.66. This trade represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 307.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BankUnited in the second quarter valued at $74,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in BankUnited by 17.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in BankUnited in the third quarter valued at $181,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in BankUnited in the second quarter valued at $169,000. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush lifted their target price on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 target price on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BankUnited presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

BankUnited Stock Performance

Shares of BankUnited stock traded down $0.14 on Monday, hitting $41.93. The stock had a trading volume of 279,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 813,091. BankUnited has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $44.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $515.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. BankUnited’s payout ratio is presently 47.54%.

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.