BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Short Interest Up 6.0% in October

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,630,000 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the September 30th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 749,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BKU. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Hovde Group raised their price target on BankUnited from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush upped their price objective on BankUnited from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on BankUnited from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.40.

BankUnited Stock Performance

NYSE:BKU traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.67. 289,937 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 809,359. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. BankUnited has a 1 year low of $22.16 and a 1 year high of $39.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.33.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $515.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.65 million. BankUnited had a net margin of 9.06% and a return on equity of 8.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BankUnited Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. BankUnited’s payout ratio is 47.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BankUnited

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its position in BankUnited by 307.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in BankUnited during the 1st quarter worth $57,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of BankUnited in the second quarter valued at about $169,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BankUnited by 17.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,000 after acquiring an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.