Natural Investments LLC Lowers Position in Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

Natural Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 79.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 22,498 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 87,506 shares during the period. Natural Investments LLC’s holdings in Itau Unibanco were worth $183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ITUB. NS Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Itau Unibanco in the second quarter worth approximately $17,019,000. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC lifted its position in Itau Unibanco by 8.0% during the second quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,450,962 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,854,000 after purchasing an additional 107,153 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Itau Unibanco during the second quarter valued at approximately $507,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 42,911 shares of the bank’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 6,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Itau Unibanco by 552.4% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 150,483 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 127,417 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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 cut Itau Unibanco from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Itau Unibanco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vanzo Carlos Orestes sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $8,306,035.36. This trade represents a 5.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Itau Unibanco Stock Performance

Itau Unibanco stock opened at $8.07 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a twelve month low of $6.54 and a twelve month high of $9.60. The company has a market capitalization of $89.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.56.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.29 billion. Itau Unibanco had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 21.40%. Research analysts expect that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

About Itau Unibanco

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.