BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) had its target price raised by analysts at Barclays from $39.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 8.38% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BKU. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised BankUnited from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush upped their price target on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.70.

BankUnited Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BKU stock opened at $41.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.36. BankUnited has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $44.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.00 and a 200 day moving average of $34.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The company 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 prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,911,000. This represents a 9.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jay D. Richards sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 34,687 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,410.66. The trade was a 6.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKU. CWM LLC boosted its stake in BankUnited by 307.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 632,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,517,000 after purchasing an additional 48,059 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 39.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 4,437 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in BankUnited during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,784,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.