BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.29

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 26th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th.

BankUnited has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.4% annually over the last three years. BankUnited has a payout ratio of 33.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BankUnited to earn $3.00 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.7%.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU opened at $38.36 on Wednesday. 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 50-day simple moving average of $39.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72 and a beta of 1.38. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $102,950.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Thomas M. Cornish sold 10,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.11, for a total transaction of $421,527.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,911,000. This trade represents a 9.73 % 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKU shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of BankUnited in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wedbush increased 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. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.36.

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.