Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 776,466 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 126,478 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $3,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new position in Itaú Unibanco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,522,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,899,000 after purchasing an additional 861,500 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 50,829,515 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604,304 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 25,586 shares of the bank’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 4,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,899,587 shares of the bank’s stock worth $174,930,000 after purchasing an additional 346,390 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITUB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC raised Itaú Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6.80 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised Itaú Unibanco to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised Itaú Unibanco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Itaú Unibanco currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $6.90.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of ITUB opened at $6.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1 year low of $4.86 and a 1 year high of $7.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a net margin of 12.25% and a return on equity of 19.46%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.058 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.56%.

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.