Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, buying 121,189 shares to hold 2,843,223 shares worth about $20.87 million at quarter-end.
• Other major funds also accumulated ITUB heavily — Orbis Allan Gray lifted its position 104.3% to 84,543,938 shares and Robeco grew its stake 39.6% to 57,624,188 shares, with Fisher and Arrowstreet likewise adding millions of shares.
• Analysts are broadly positive: JPMorgan raised its target to $9 and the consensus price target is $9 with an average rating of Buy, and the bank recently announced a special dividend of $0.068 per share.

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,843,223 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 121,189 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $20,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ITUB. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 104.3% in the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 84,543,938 shares of the bank's stock worth $574,053,000 after buying an additional 43,153,787 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 57,624,188 shares of the bank's stock valued at $422,962,000 after acquiring an additional 16,339,845 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden purchased a new stake in Itau Unibanco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,024,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 61,497,171 shares of the bank's stock valued at $417,566,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 55,852,163 shares of the bank's stock valued at $379,236,000 after acquiring an additional 4,440,223 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Itau Unibanco from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Itau Unibanco from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $9.00.

Itau Unibanco Price Performance

Itau Unibanco stock opened at $8.46 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.54. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12-month low of $4.92 and a 12-month high of $9.60. The stock has a market cap of $93.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.63.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.03). Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 20.64% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.068 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco's payout ratio is presently 4.29%.

Itau Unibanco Profile

Itaú Unibanco SA NYSE: ITUB is a Brazilian banking and financial services conglomerate headquartered in São Paulo. The company was formed by the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco in 2008 and is one of the largest private-sector banks in Brazil and among the leading banks in Latin America. Itaú Unibanco is publicly listed in Brazil and maintains an international listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The bank offers a full range of financial products and services across retail, commercial and wholesale banking.

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