Carmignac Gestion Buys 3,589,092 Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Carmignac Gestion raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,219,314 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,589,092 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco comprises approximately 1.3% of Carmignac Gestion’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Carmignac Gestion owned 0.11% of Itau Unibanco worth $99,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Itau Unibanco during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,000,000. Amundi boosted its position in Itau Unibanco by 32.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 5,286,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,503 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 32,518 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 6,337 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,536,156 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,890,000 after purchasing an additional 223,846 shares during the period. Finally, XP Advisory US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Itau Unibanco during the 2nd quarter valued at $300,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ITUB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itau Unibanco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In related news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.24, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,008,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,306,035.36. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Itau Unibanco stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.29. The stock had a trading volume of 24,858,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,971,240. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12 month low of $6.54 and a 12 month high of $9.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $8.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.29 billion. Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 21.40%. As a group, research analysts predict that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itau Unibanco Company 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.