Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB Shares Bought by Dodge & Cox

Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,622,215 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 946,400 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox owned 0.17% of Itau Unibanco worth $136,687,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 104.3% in the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 84,543,938 shares of the bank’s stock worth $574,053,000 after buying an additional 43,153,787 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Itau Unibanco by 39.6% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 57,624,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $422,962,000 after buying an additional 16,339,845 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Itau Unibanco by 1,667.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,413,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $91,117,000 after buying an additional 11,711,487 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco during the third quarter worth about $53,024,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Itau Unibanco by 10.5% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 61,497,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $417,566,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828,296 shares in the last quarter.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Itau Unibanco stock opened at $7.98 on Friday. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12-month low of $4.97 and a 12-month high of $9.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.33 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $8.46 and its 200-day moving average is $7.55.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released 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 during 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%. Equities 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 announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be issued a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.