Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $9.67, but opened at $7.47. Itau Unibanco shares last traded at $7.3890, with a volume of 26,182,258 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ITUB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Itau Unibanco to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. HSBC downgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $9.10 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $10.50 price objective (up from $9.30) on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Itau Unibanco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.87.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 22.3%

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.50.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.29 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Itau Unibanco

In other news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 74,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.38, for a total transaction of $625,508.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 933,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,821,648.98. The trade was a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 111.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,293,618 shares of the bank’s stock worth $182,139,000 after purchasing an additional 11,771,394 shares in the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 12,219,314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,092 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 32.4% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 6,579,735 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,088,000 after buying an additional 1,611,094 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $43,594,000 after acquiring an additional 58,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,283,503 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Company Profile

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is a financial services company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, and one of the largest banking groups in Latin America. The company provides banking and financial products to individuals, small and midsize businesses, large corporations and institutional clients through digital channels and a network of branches and service locations.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgages, credit cards, insurance, investment products, asset management, foreign exchange and payment services.