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

BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a 6.9% increase from BankUnited’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29.

BankUnited has raised its dividend payment 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. Research 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 Stock Performance

Shares of BKU stock opened at $35.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.86. BankUnited has a 1 year low of $24.34 and a 1 year high of $44.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.01. The firm has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 1.40.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BankUnited will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BankUnited

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BKU shares. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of BankUnited from $42.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group lowered their price target on BankUnited from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BankUnited from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of BankUnited from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.45.

BankUnited Company Profile

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.