Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Short Interest Update

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 65,200,000 shares, an increase of 86.7% from the February 28th total of 34,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 28,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in Itaú Unibanco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Itaú Unibanco during the 4th quarter worth $57,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 4,000.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 12,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 11,961 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Itaú Unibanco during the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco during the fourth quarter valued at about $67,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ITUB. UBS Group upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.18 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of ITUB stock traded down $0.09 on Friday, hitting $5.52. The stock had a trading volume of 13,791,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,588,458. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $5.29 and its 200-day moving average is $5.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. Itaú Unibanco has a 52-week low of $4.42 and a 52-week high of $6.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. As a group, research analysts expect that Itaú Unibanco will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.0527 dividend. This is a boost from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.82%.

About Itaú Unibanco

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Activities with the Market + Corporation. It offers current account; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending services; financing and investment services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services.