American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 708,326 Shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. $ITUB

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 12.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,234,442 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 708,326 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.06% of Itau Unibanco worth $45,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ITUB. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Itau Unibanco by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 12,022 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Itau Unibanco by 10.6% in the second quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 36,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 3,512 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. raised its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 8.0% in the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 49,805 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,680 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Itau Unibanco by 7.2% in the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 55,679 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 3,733 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Itau Unibanco by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 135,358 shares of the bank’s stock worth $980,000 after buying an additional 3,953 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ITUB shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Itau Unibanco in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Itau Unibanco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Itau Unibanco from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.00.

Itau Unibanco Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE ITUB opened at $8.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The company has a market cap of $90.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.35 and a 200-day moving average of $7.49. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1-year low of $4.91 and a 1-year high of $9.60.

Itau Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $8.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Itau Unibanco had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 20.64%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Itau Unibanco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd will be given a $0.068 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 23rd. Itau Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.29%.

Itau Unibanco Profile

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.