Madison Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 280,063 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,288,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,959,405 shares of the bank’s stock worth $694,229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,737,696 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 104.3% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 84,543,938 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $574,053,000 after acquiring an additional 43,153,787 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 63,525,566 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $454,843,000 after acquiring an additional 2,394,121 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 43,540,350 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $311,749,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 42,818,183 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $306,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,759 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ITUB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Itau Unibanco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of ITUB opened at $7.19 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.33. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a one year low of $6.39 and a one year high of $9.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $79.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.58.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). The firm 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 EPS for the current year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vanzo Carlos Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.24, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Itau Unibanco 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.