Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Shares in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 386,626 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,918,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 27,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares during the period. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 17,106 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Itaú Unibanco by 16.9% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,556 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 19,819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 3,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 44,738 shares of the bank’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 3,405 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ITUB shares. HSBC upgraded Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.18 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ITUB opened at $5.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $59.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.30. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 12-month low of $4.42 and a 12-month high of $6.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were given a $0.0527 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.82%.

About Itaú Unibanco

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.