Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Acquires 58,538 Shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 525.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,674 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,538 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 1.7% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 95,992,864 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $515,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,613,409 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Global Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Westwood Global Investments LLC now owns 63,473,083 shares of the bank’s stock worth $340,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,746,682 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 41.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 37,984,762 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $216,894,000 after buying an additional 11,129,486 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 0.3% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 23,221,327 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,699,000 after buying an additional 76,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 244.7% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 20,872,374 shares of the bank’s stock worth $119,181,000 after buying an additional 14,818,000 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ITUB shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. HSBC cut Itaú Unibanco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th.

Itaú Unibanco Trading Down 0.4 %

ITUB stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $6.91. 5,764,730 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,391,736. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a one year low of $4.54 and a one year high of $7.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.19. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.05 billion. Itaú Unibanco had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 17.76%. Research analysts anticipate that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a $0.0036 dividend. This is an increase from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.35%.

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.