BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) Raises Dividend to $0.31 Per Share

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. This is a 6.9% increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

BankUnited has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years. BankUnited has a dividend payout ratio of 31.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BankUnited to earn $3.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.0%.

BankUnited Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BKU traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.44. 455,002 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 705,989. BankUnited has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $44.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 1.40.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.19. BankUnited had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 8.48%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BankUnited will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sanjiv Sobti acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 21,782 shares in the company, valued at $715,103.06. This represents a 4.81 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kevin A. Malcolm sold 3,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.18, for a total transaction of $113,772.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,250 shares in the company, valued at $430,955. This trade represents a 20.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKU has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of BankUnited from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Compass Point boosted their price target on BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BankUnited from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.45.

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.