William Blair Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 24.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,551,763 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,081,568 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco accounts for 0.7% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $261,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,642 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,901 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 332.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,966 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 5,355 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in Itau Unibanco during the third quarter valued at $57,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 486.0% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 8,966 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 7,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Itau Unibanco in the 4th quarter worth about $70,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITUB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Itau Unibanco from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.00.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:ITUB opened at $7.82 on Friday. 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 Holding S.A. has a 12 month low of $5.93 and a 12 month high of $9.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.08. The company has a market cap of $86.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.63.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The bank reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.02). Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.41 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be issued a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rodrigues Andre Luis Teixeira sold 182,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total value of $1,612,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,637,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,442,847.02. This trade represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Fajerman Sergio Guillinet sold 39,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $376,215.81. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold a total of 292,277 shares of company stock valued at $2,646,512 in the last 90 days. 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.