Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from six brokerages, with an average twelve-month target price of $6.27.
• The company announced a monthly dividend of $0.0454 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 7.9%, an increase from its previous dividend rate.
• In the recent earnings report, Itau Unibanco reported earnings per share of $0.18, meeting analysts' expectations, with a net margin of 14.05%.

Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $6.2727.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Thursday, July 10th.

Itau Unibanco Price Performance

Shares of ITUB opened at $6.87 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $7.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.55. 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 has a twelve month low of $4.42 and a twelve month high of $7.45. The firm has a market cap of $74.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Itau Unibanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.0454 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.9%. This is an increase 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 presently 4.23%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 104.3% in the 2nd 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 period. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 738.6% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 77,734,889 shares of the bank's stock valued at $427,542,000 after buying an additional 68,465,514 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 5,828,296 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased 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 buying an additional 4,440,223 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 41,964,629 shares of the bank's stock valued at $230,805,000 after buying an additional 2,306,414 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Company 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.

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