Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Stock Breaks Above 200 Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Itau Unibanco shares broke above their 200-day moving average, reaching $10.15 and last trading near $10.08 on heavy volume of approximately 24.8 million shares.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with an average “Moderate Buy” rating and a $9.87 target price. Goldman Sachs raised its target to $10.50, while JPMorgan increased its target to $10.00; HSBC downgraded the stock to “Hold.”
• The bank slightly missed quarterly expectations, reporting $0.21 in earnings per share versus a $0.22 consensus estimate and $9.27 billion in revenue versus $9.29 billion expected. Institutional investors, including Bank of America and Carmignac Gestion, significantly increased their holdings.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report)'s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $8.24 and traded as high as $10.15. Itau Unibanco shares last traded at $10.0750, with a volume of 24,821,009 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Itau Unibanco from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. HSBC lowered Itau Unibanco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $9.10 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $10.50 target price (up from $9.30) on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.87.

Itau Unibanco Trading Down 0.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $111.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $8.19 and its 200 day moving average is $8.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.29 billion. Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 21.40% and a net margin of 26.41%. Equities analysts predict that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In other news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 74,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.38, for a total transaction of $625,508.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 933,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,821,648.98. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ITUB. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Itau Unibanco by 111.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,293,618 shares of the bank's stock worth $182,139,000 after acquiring an additional 11,771,394 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion grew its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 12,219,314 shares of the bank's stock worth $99,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,092 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 6,579,735 shares of the bank's stock worth $55,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,611,094 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,202,138 shares of the bank's stock worth $43,594,000 after acquiring an additional 58,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 32.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 5,286,501 shares of the bank's stock valued at $43,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,503 shares during the last quarter.

About Itau Unibanco

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is a Brazil-based financial services company and one of the largest private-sector banking groups in Latin America. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ITUB, while its principal operations are based in Brazil.

The company provides a broad range of banking and financial products for individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its services include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial lending, credit and debit cards, payments, insurance, investment products, wealth management, foreign exchange and investment banking.

Itaú Unibanco was created in 2008 through the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco.

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