Causeway Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 43,222 Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

Causeway Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 43,222 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ITUB. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Itaú Unibanco in the fourth quarter worth about $898,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new position in Itaú Unibanco in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Itaú Unibanco during the fourth quarter valued at $1,918,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,955,677 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,340,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,303 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Itaú Unibanco Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Itaú Unibanco stock opened at $5.46 on Monday. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 1-year low of $4.42 and a 1-year high of $6.30. The company has a market capitalization of $58.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.25. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts forecast that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a $0.0527 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.