Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 130,998 Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,968,641 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 130,998 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $35,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Itau Unibanco by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,909,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,109,000 after purchasing an additional 317,742 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 1.1% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 29,215,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $214,437,000 after purchasing an additional 329,932 shares during the period. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Itau Unibanco during the 4th quarter worth about $1,234,000. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd now owns 12,904,308 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,137,000 after buying an additional 3,106,618 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 2,461,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,627,000 after buying an additional 945,545 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Stock Up 2.2%

Itau Unibanco stock opened at $8.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.19. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1-year low of $5.93 and a 1-year high of $9.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The bank reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.02). Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 21.27% and a net margin of 27.27%.The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.41 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.068 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 22nd. Itau Unibanco’s payout ratio is currently 4.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ITUB shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Zacks Research cut Itau Unibanco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itau Unibanco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In related news, insider Rodrigues Andre Luis Teixeira sold 182,800 shares of Itau Unibanco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total transaction of $1,612,296.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,637,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,442,847.02. The trade was a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Fajerman Sergio Guillinet sold 39,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total value of $376,215.81. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,205,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,489,768.26. This trade represents a 3.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 292,277 shares of company stock valued at $2,646,512. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

About Itau Unibanco

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.