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

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 8,017 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,133% compared to the average daily volume of 650 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.24, for a total value of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,008,014 shares in the company, valued at $8,306,035.36. This represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Itau Unibanco by 11.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 445,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after acquiring an additional 46,608 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,996,699 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,607 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 332.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,966 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 5,355 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 118,405 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 12,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 425.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 356,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 288,602 shares during the period.

Itau Unibanco Price Performance

NYSE ITUB traded up $0.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $8.30. 11,287,090 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,882,834. Itau Unibanco has a fifty-two week low of $6.54 and a fifty-two week high of $9.60. The company has a market cap of $91.99 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $8.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.22.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 21.40% and a net margin of 26.41%. Research analysts expect that Itau Unibanco will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

About Itau Unibanco

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.