Walleye Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Walleye Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 5,310.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 783,968 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 769,479 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC’s holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $3,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Itaú Unibanco in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 11,961 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Itaú Unibanco during the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Itaú Unibanco during the third quarter worth $68,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of ITUB stock opened at $5.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $60.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.17, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12 month low of $4.42 and a 12 month high of $6.30.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. Sell-side analysts predict that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.0527 dividend. This is a positive change 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 is 2.82%.

Itaú Unibanco Company Profile

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.