Itau Unibanco Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:ITUB)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 5,301 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 447% compared to the typical volume of 969 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ITUB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of ITUB stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Monday, reaching $7.99. 7,868,395 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,794,402. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.56. Itau Unibanco has a twelve month low of $6.54 and a twelve month high of $9.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.16.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Itau Unibanco will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Itau Unibanco

In related news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 74,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.38, for a total value of $625,508.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 933,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,821,648.98. This trade represents a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Itau Unibanco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ITUB. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 144,370 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after buying an additional 13,784 shares during the last quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Itau Unibanco during the second quarter worth approximately $159,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 19.5% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 878,443 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,177,000 after acquiring an additional 143,650 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 300.6% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,133 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,550,000 after acquiring an additional 234,214 shares during the period. Finally, Carmignac Gestion grew its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 41.6% in the second quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 12,219,314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,092 shares during the last quarter.

About Itau Unibanco

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is one of Brazil’s largest financial institutions and provides banking and financial services to individuals, companies and institutional clients. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, credit and debit cards, insurance, payment solutions, foreign exchange and investment products.

The company also operates businesses in investment banking, corporate and treasury services, asset management, private banking and wealth management.