Natural Investments LLC Sells 87,506 Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Natural Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 79.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,498 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 87,506 shares during the period. Natural Investments LLC’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on 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 lowered shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.00.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In related news, insider Vanzo Carlos Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.24, for a total transaction of $494,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,008,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,306,035.36. The trade was a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of ITUB opened at $8.07 on Thursday. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52-week low of $6.54 and a 52-week high of $9.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.56.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last posted its 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 net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.29 billion. Research analysts forecast that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal 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.