BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

by · The Markets Daily

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU – Get Free Report)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $33.63, but opened at $32.06. BankUnited shares last traded at $32.71, with a volume of 102,162 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of BankUnited from $50.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.18.

Get Our Latest Report on BKU

BankUnited Stock Down 2.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. BankUnited had a return on equity of 8.48% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $255.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.35 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BankUnited, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. BankUnited’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BankUnited news, Director Sanjiv Sobti purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.83 per share, with a total value of $32,830.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,103.06. The trade was a 4.81 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,955. The trade was a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth about $34,525,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in BankUnited in the fourth quarter worth $30,499,000. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited during the fourth quarter valued at $18,663,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of BankUnited by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,821,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,696,000 after buying an additional 322,368 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,163,000. Institutional investors own 99.70% of the company’s stock.

BankUnited Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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