Citi opens ‘positive catalyst watch’ on BankUnited, ups price target to $42

Citi analyst Benjamin Gerlinger raised the firm’s price target on BankUnited to $42 from $37 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares and is opening a “30-Day Positive Catalyst Watch” based on a potential capital deployment announcement supported by the organic rebuilding of capital, limited-to-modest loan growth outlook over the next couple quarters, and discounted share price compared to the tangible book value. The firm, which now assumes BankUnited repurchases $200M of shares between Q3 of 2024 and Q4 of 2025, notes that historically the company has announced $150M in buyback authorization at a time, which would amount to roughly 20c of 2025 EPS.