Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Key Points

• Vanguard increased its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 644,748 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 24.16 million shares worth about $173 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but constructive, with the stock carrying a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00, even after Zacks downgraded it to Hold.
• The bank posted mixed recent results, missing both EPS and revenue estimates in its latest quarter, while also announcing a special dividend of $0.068 per share and seeing insider share sales over the past 90 days.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,158,135 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 644,748 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.22% of Itau Unibanco worth $172,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 18.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 6,868,048 shares of the bank's stock valued at $50,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079,178 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 0.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,387,090 shares of the bank's stock valued at $303,781,000 after acquiring an additional 369,474 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 5.3% in the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 6,162,981 shares of the bank's stock valued at $45,236,000 after acquiring an additional 311,472 shares during the period. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,909,142 shares of the bank's stock valued at $78,109,000 after acquiring an additional 317,742 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 8.3% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 3,725,339 shares of the bank's stock valued at $27,344,000 after acquiring an additional 286,200 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITUB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Itau Unibanco from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itau Unibanco currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.00.

Itau Unibanco Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE ITUB opened at $8.38 on Monday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $8.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.01. The company has a current ratio of 8.79, a quick ratio of 8.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The stock has a market cap of $92.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.63. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12 month low of $5.93 and a 12 month high of $9.60.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The bank reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 29.45% and a net margin of 27.27%.The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.41 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.068 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.11%.

Insider Transactions at Itau Unibanco

In other news, insider Fajerman Sergio Guillinet sold 39,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total value of $376,215.81. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,205,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,489,768.26. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rodrigues Andre Luis Teixeira sold 182,800 shares of Itau Unibanco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total transaction of $1,612,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,637,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,442,847.02. The trade was a 10.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 292,277 shares of company stock worth $2,646,512 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Itau Unibanco Company 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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