Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Shares Purchased by Banco Santander S.A.

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. by 222.8% in Q1, now holding 155,795 shares valued at $857,000.
• Several other institutions also boosted their positions in Itau Unibanco, with Natixis Advisors LLC increasing their holdings by 31.8% to 2,660,338 shares.
• Itau Unibanco recently announced a $0.0024 dividend, yielding 43.0%, with a low dividend payout ratio of 4.23%.

Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 222.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,795 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 107,527 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 117.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 51,044,340 shares of the bank's stock worth $253,180,000 after acquiring an additional 27,559,997 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Itau Unibanco by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 41,964,629 shares of the bank's stock worth $230,805,000 after buying an additional 2,306,414 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 311.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,584,177 shares of the bank's stock worth $126,898,000 after acquiring an additional 19,365,644 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 16,621,005 shares of the bank's stock valued at $82,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 15,031,037 shares of the bank's stock valued at $82,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,543 shares in the last quarter.

Itau Unibanco Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ITUB stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.84. 19,538,850 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,496,381. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $6.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.97. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12-month low of $4.42 and a 12-month high of $6.95. The stock has a market cap of $73.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.74.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 19.50%. The business had revenue of $7.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.75 billion. On average, analysts expect that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.0024 dividend. This represents a yield of 43.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. Itau Unibanco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research report on Thursday, July 10th.

Itau Unibanco Company Profile

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Activities with the Market + Corporation. It offers current account; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending services; financing and investment services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services.