26,856 Shares in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 26,856 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco during the 4th quarter valued at $93,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,913,360 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,297,000 after purchasing an additional 148,404 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 97,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares in the last quarter. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Seafarer Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,174,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,709,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in Itaú Unibanco by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 4,435,144 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,824,000 after purchasing an additional 206,831 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America upgraded shares of Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

ITUB stock opened at $6.53 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1 year low of $5.08 and a 1 year high of $7.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.52.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19. Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 10.48%. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.05 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a $0.003 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is 5.88%.

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.