Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB Shares Purchased by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 246.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 101,084 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,865 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ITUB. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 445,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after purchasing an additional 46,608 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,996,699 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,607 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 332.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,966 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 5,355 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 118,405 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 12,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 425.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 356,467 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 288,602 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Fajerman Sergio Guillinet sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.38, for a total value of $469,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,265,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,866,816.22. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Rodrigues Andre Luis Teixeira sold 182,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total transaction of $1,612,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,637,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,442,847.02. This represents a 10.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 252,800 shares of company stock worth $2,270,296. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of ITUB stock opened at $9.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.82. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52 week low of $5.46 and a 52 week high of $9.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The company has a market cap of $103.84 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.65.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.03). Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 20.64% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The business had revenue of $8.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be paid a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITUB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Itau Unibanco from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Itau Unibanco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.00.

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.