Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Takes $13.31 Million Position in Millicom International Cellular SA $TIGO

Key Points

• Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. invested approximately $13.31 million in Millicom International Cellular SA, acquiring 460,698 shares during the first quarter.
• Analysts have recently upgraded Millicom's stock ratings, with Zacks Research moving it from "hold" to "strong-buy" and target prices being raised significantly by multiple firms.
• Millicom reported earnings of $0.51 per share for its latest quarter, missing estimates, with revenues of $1.37 billion, below analyst expectations of $1.40 billion.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ:TIGO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 460,698 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $13,312,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. owned approximately 0.27% of Millicom International Cellular at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Millicom International Cellular in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Millicom International Cellular in the first quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Millicom International Cellular by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,892 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Millicom International Cellular by 65.6% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,284 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 2,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EWA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Millicom International Cellular in the first quarter valued at approximately $201,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TIGO. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Millicom International Cellular from $37.00 to $46.10 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Millicom International Cellular from $31.50 to $39.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Millicom International Cellular from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Millicom International Cellular from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Millicom International Cellular presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $40.43.

Millicom International Cellular Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TIGO traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $49.41. 621,565 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 927,305. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.08. Millicom International Cellular SA has a twelve month low of $23.61 and a twelve month high of $49.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.32 and a 200 day moving average of $35.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Millicom International Cellular (NASDAQ:TIGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Millicom International Cellular had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 10.32%. On average, analysts forecast that Millicom International Cellular SA will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Millicom International Cellular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a yield of 620.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 8th. Millicom International Cellular's payout ratio is 52.91%.

Millicom International Cellular Company Profile

Millicom International Cellular SA provides cable and mobile services in Latin America. It offers mobile services, including mobile data and voice, and short message services; and mobile financial services, such as payments, money transfers, international remittances, savings, real-time loans, and micro-insurance.