Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Shares Up 6.5% – Here’s What Happened

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)’s share price rose 6.5% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $8.56 and last traded at $8.6150. 27,033,500 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 13% from the average session volume of 23,843,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Itau Unibanco Stock Up 5.7%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $7.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. The company has a market cap of $94.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.56.

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 return on equity of 21.40% and a net margin of 26.41%.The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In other news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 74,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.38, for a total value of $625,508.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 933,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,821,648.98. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 10,895 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA increased its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA now owns 40,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,441 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 3.7% in the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 40,445 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in Itau Unibanco by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 49,263 shares of the bank’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Company Profile

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is a Brazil-based financial services company and one of the largest private-sector banking groups in Latin America. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ITUB, while its principal operations are based in Brazil.

The company provides a broad range of banking and financial products for individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its services include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial lending, credit and debit cards, payments, insurance, investment products, wealth management, foreign exchange and investment banking.

Itaú Unibanco was created in 2008 through the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco.