Madison Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Madison Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 22.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 281,516 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 79,633 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,909,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,109,000 after purchasing an additional 317,742 shares during the last quarter. Mirabaud Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco in the fourth quarter valued at $1,234,000. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd increased its stake in Itau Unibanco by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd now owns 12,904,308 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,137,000 after purchasing an additional 3,106,618 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 36,551,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $261,679,000 after buying an additional 7,081,568 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 62.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 2,461,883 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,627,000 after buying an additional 945,545 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ITUB opened at $8.38 on Wednesday. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $5.93 and a fifty-two week high of $9.60. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.31. The firm has a market cap of $92.88 billion, a PE ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The bank reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.41 billion. Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 21.27% and a net margin of 27.27%. Analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Itau Unibanco news, insider Vanzo Carlos Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.24, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,008,014 shares in the company, valued at $8,306,035.36. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.00.

Itau Unibanco Profile

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.