BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,800,000 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the March 31st total of 3,470,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 882,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BankUnited news, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 2,285 shares of BankUnited 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 owns 11,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,365. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BankUnited

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKU. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,459,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,324,000 after purchasing an additional 513,342 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 422.5% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 584,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,368,000 after purchasing an additional 472,694 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,202,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,442,000 after purchasing an additional 332,567 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 23.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,539,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,939,000 after purchasing an additional 290,232 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of BankUnited by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,596,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,639,000 after purchasing an additional 251,281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKU has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on BankUnited in a report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BankUnited from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wedbush dropped their price target on BankUnited from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on BankUnited from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU opened at $27.70 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.85 and a 200 day moving average of $27.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.36. 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 1.48, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $508.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.84 million. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 8.71%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BankUnited will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th were paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.