Rhumbline Advisers Trims Stake in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 291,698 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,509 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $1,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 23,478 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 6,501 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 19,819 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 3,089 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 115,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 49,000 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,027,679 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,501,000 after buying an additional 27,318 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 44,738 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 3,405 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITUB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Itaú Unibanco from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.80 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.90.

Itaú Unibanco Price Performance

Shares of ITUB opened at $5.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $53.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.34. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $4.86 and a fifty-two week high of $7.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.92.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. Analysts anticipate that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.058 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.56%.

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.