Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Shares Purchased by GQG Partners LLC

Key Points

• GQG Partners LLC significantly increased its stake in Itau Unibanco by 738.6%, acquiring nearly 77.7 million shares and bringing its total ownership to about $427.5 million.
• Several other major hedge funds also expanded their investments in Itau Unibanco, including Bank of America and Jane Street Group, with increases of over 300% in some cases.
• Itau Unibanco recently announced a dividend of $0.0024, yielding 43.0%, although it reported only $0.18 earnings per share, meeting analysts' expectations.

GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 738.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,734,889 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 68,465,514 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC owned about 0.72% of Itau Unibanco worth $427,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ITUB. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 311.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,584,177 shares of the bank's stock valued at $126,898,000 after buying an additional 19,365,644 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Itau Unibanco in the fourth quarter valued at about $71,054,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 6,290,328 shares of the bank's stock valued at $31,200,000 after buying an additional 3,521,518 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD purchased a new position in Itau Unibanco in the first quarter valued at about $17,826,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 495.7% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 2,897,014 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,369,000 after buying an additional 2,410,712 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Itau Unibanco Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of ITUB opened at $7.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.02. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1-year low of $4.42 and a 1-year high of $7.13. The stock has a market cap of $76.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.74.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18. Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The business had revenue of $7.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $44.75 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itau Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.0024 dividend. This represents a yield of 43.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 2nd. Itau Unibanco's payout ratio is presently 4.23%.

About Itau Unibanco

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.

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