Westwood Global Investments LLC Has $456.02 Million Stock Position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Key Points

• Westwood Global Investments LLC trimmed its stake in Itau Unibanco by 3.1% in Q3 to 62,127,413 shares and still holds the stock as its largest position, valued at about $456.02 million.
• Several other major institutions boosted their ITUB holdings—most notably Orbis Allan Gray, which more than doubled to ~84.54 million shares (~$574M), while Schroder, Fisher, Arrowstreet and Robeco also added sizeable positions.
• Analysts show a consensus of Moderate Buy with an average target of $9.00 (JPMorgan raised its target to $9), and Itaú Unibanco declared a special dividend of $0.068 per share (record date Mar 23, payable Sep 8).

Westwood Global Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,127,413 shares of the bank's stock after selling 1,966,358 shares during the quarter. Itau Unibanco makes up 0.0% of Westwood Global Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Westwood Global Investments LLC owned 0.56% of Itau Unibanco worth $456,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ITUB. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 104.3% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 84,543,938 shares of the bank's stock valued at $574,053,000 after buying an additional 43,153,787 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 4.9% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 74,529,975 shares of the bank's stock valued at $546,305,000 after acquiring an additional 3,511,303 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 10.5% during the second 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. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Itau Unibanco by 9.5% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 61,131,445 shares of the bank's stock valued at $448,705,000 after acquiring an additional 5,279,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Itau Unibanco by 39.6% in the third 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITUB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Itau Unibanco from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. 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 research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Itau Unibanco presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.00.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 0.9%

ITUB stock opened at $8.07 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $8.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.58. The company has a market capitalization of $89.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12 month low of $4.97 and a 12 month high of $9.60.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.03). Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 20.64%.The company had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.98 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.068 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco's dividend payout ratio is currently 87.14%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ITUB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.