BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Short Interest Up 5.8% in March

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,470,000 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the March 15th total of 3,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 896,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 4.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKU. Wedbush reduced their price target on BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group lowered shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BankUnited currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.44.

BankUnited Price Performance

NYSE BKU traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $25.17. 596,453 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 885,190. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $15.83 and a 52-week high of $34.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.79 and its 200-day moving average is $26.98.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.42). BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $500.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that BankUnited will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. BankUnited’s payout ratio is currently 48.74%.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In related news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total value of $62,106.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $319,365. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKU. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BankUnited in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,064,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in BankUnited by 13.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,465,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $117,782,000 after acquiring an additional 660,759 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in BankUnited by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,459,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,324,000 after acquiring an additional 513,342 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in BankUnited by 175.2% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 540,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,814,000 after acquiring an additional 343,997 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BankUnited by 86.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 733,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,242,000 after acquiring an additional 340,604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

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.