Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $8.24 and traded as high as $10.15. Itau Unibanco shares last traded at $10.0750, with a volume of 24,821,009 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ITUB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. HSBC downgraded shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $9.10 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $10.50 price objective (up from $9.30) on shares of Itau Unibanco in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.87.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 2.0%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.26. The company has a market capitalization of $107.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its earnings results 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.29 billion. Research analysts expect that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Itau Unibanco news, insider Vanzo Orestes sold 74,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.38, for a total value of $625,508.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 933,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,821,648.98. The trade was a 7.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Itau Unibanco

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 111.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,293,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $182,139,000 after acquiring an additional 11,771,394 shares in the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 41.6% during the second quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 12,219,314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,092 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 32.4% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 6,579,735 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611,094 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 1.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,202,138 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,594,000 after purchasing an additional 58,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 32.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 5,286,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,503 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.