D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Takes Position in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,325,367 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $71,054,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Itaú Unibanco as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Itaú Unibanco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 4,000.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 12,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 11,961 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Itaú Unibanco in the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 16,935 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.18 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Itaú Unibanco has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Trading Up 6.3 %

Itaú Unibanco stock opened at $6.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.76. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52 week low of $4.42 and a 52 week high of $6.62.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.02. Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $7.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.07 billion. Analysts expect that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.0024 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.82%.

Itaú Unibanco Company Profile

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Activities with the Market + Corporation. It offers current account; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending services; financing and investment services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services.