Strs Ohio Takes Position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired approximately $4.96 million worth of shares in Itau Unibanco, totaling 901,560 shares as recorded in their latest SEC filing.
• UBS Group maintains a "neutral" rating for Itau Unibanco stock, which has an average consensus rating of "Buy" and a price target of $6.27.
• Itau Unibanco recently increased its monthly dividend to $0.0454 per share, yielding approximately 7.8% annually, indicating a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 901,560 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $4,959,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 738.6% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 77,734,889 shares of the bank's stock worth $427,542,000 after purchasing an additional 68,465,514 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 5.8% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 41,964,629 shares of the bank's stock worth $230,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306,414 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd bought a new position in shares of Itau Unibanco in the first quarter worth approximately $227,646,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 6.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,592,740 shares of the bank's stock worth $135,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 22.5% in the first quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 21,455,970 shares of the bank's stock worth $114,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,937,238 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Itau Unibanco currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $6.27.

Itau Unibanco Price Performance

ITUB traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $7.34. The stock had a trading volume of 37,966,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,761,314. The company has a market cap of $79.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.76 and a 200 day moving average of $6.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.59. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1 year low of $4.42 and a 1 year high of $7.38.

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

Itau Unibanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.0454 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. This is a boost from Itau Unibanco's previous monthly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Itau Unibanco's payout ratio is currently 4.23%.

Itau Unibanco 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.