BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $508.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.84 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 9.19%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS.

BankUnited Price Performance

Shares of BKU opened at $25.89 on Friday. BankUnited has a 1 year low of $15.83 and a 1 year high of $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.79 and a 200-day moving average of $26.96.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is an increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.74%.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

In other news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.18, for a total transaction of $62,106.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,750 shares in the company, valued at $319,365. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth about $31,064,000. State Street Corp increased 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 worth $117,782,000 after purchasing an additional 660,759 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 343,997 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 86.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 733,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,242,000 after purchasing an additional 340,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BankUnited by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares in the last quarter. 99.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BKU. Citigroup reduced their target price on BankUnited from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com lowered BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BankUnited from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on BankUnited from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

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.