Driehaus Capital Management LLC Sells 5,713,806 Shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,373,676 shares of the bank's stock after selling 5,713,806 shares during the quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Itaú Unibanco worth $51,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Eagle Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 50.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 410,000 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,034,000 after buying an additional 138,000 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 1,795,485 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,906,000 after buying an additional 12,378 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,215 shares of the bank's stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 4,218 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 311.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 25,584,177 shares of the bank's stock worth $126,898,000 after acquiring an additional 19,365,644 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 354.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 915,686 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,542,000 after acquiring an additional 714,118 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITUB has been the subject of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Itaú Unibanco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $6.18 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Price Performance

Shares of ITUB traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.58. 15,360,089 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,472,245. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52-week low of $4.42 and a 52-week high of $6.62. The company has a market cap of $70.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. Itaú Unibanco had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $7.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.07 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.0024 per share. This represents a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Itaú Unibanco's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.82%.

About Itaú 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.