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

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) saw a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,220,000 shares, a drop of 8.6% from the October 31st total of 2,430,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 819,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

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

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,583,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,144,000 after acquiring an additional 315,872 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BankUnited by 49.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,247,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,778,000 after buying an additional 740,896 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BankUnited by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,719,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,674,000 after purchasing an additional 20,218 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 868,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,659,000 after purchasing an additional 236,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 663,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,163,000 after purchasing an additional 39,797 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BKU. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup reduced their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

BankUnited Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BKU traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $41.93. 279,947 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 813,091. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.61. BankUnited has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $44.45.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 9.06%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BankUnited will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

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