Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 21.27% and a net margin of 27.27%.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

NYSE ITUB traded down $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,827,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,331,441. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.38. Itau Unibanco has a 12 month low of $6.21 and a 12 month high of $9.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 22nd will be issued a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 22nd. Itau Unibanco’s payout ratio is currently 4.11%.

Insider Activity at Itau Unibanco

In other news, insider Vanzo Carlos Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider directly owned 1,008,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,306,035.36. This trade represents a 5.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 104.3% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 84,543,938 shares of the bank’s stock worth $574,053,000 after purchasing an additional 43,153,787 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,319,000. Samlyn Capital LLC acquired a new position in Itau Unibanco in the third quarter valued at about $99,388,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 1,667.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,413,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $91,117,000 after purchasing an additional 11,711,487 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,959,405 shares of the bank’s stock worth $694,229,000 after purchasing an additional 5,737,696 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ITUB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Itau Unibanco from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Itau Unibanco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.00.

Itau Unibanco Company Profile

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.