Bank of America Corp DE Acquires 19,365,644 Shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 311.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,584,177 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,365,644 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $126,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 50,829,515 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604,304 shares in the last quarter. Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes Ltda lifted its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 96.8% in the fourth quarter. Constellation Investimentos e Participacoes Ltda now owns 2,540,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,599,000 after buying an additional 1,249,200 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 487,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 4,636 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 13,681,494 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,860,000 after acquiring an additional 51,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 52,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 5,845 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITUB has been the subject of a number of recent 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 upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.18 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research 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.com, Itaú Unibanco currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

Itaú Unibanco stock opened at $6.61 on Friday. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $4.42 and a fifty-two week high of $6.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.29. The stock has a market cap of $71.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.76. 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 (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $7.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.07 billion. Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Cuts Dividend

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

Itaú Unibanco 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.