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

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,470,195 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 191,733 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.27% of Itau Unibanco worth $216,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ITUB. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 20,106 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,836 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 12.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,234,442 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,761,000 after purchasing an additional 708,326 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Itau Unibanco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $153,000. Gemsstock Ltd. purchased a new stake in Itau Unibanco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,091,000. Finally, WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 38.4% in the third quarter. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 958,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,035,000 after acquiring an additional 266,000 shares in the last quarter.

Itau Unibanco Price Performance

ITUB stock opened at $9.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $100.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52-week low of $4.73 and a 52-week high of $9.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $8.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.44.

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

Itau Unibanco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.0032 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 2nd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Itau Unibanco from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.00.

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.