B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Has $4.03 Million Holdings in Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lowered its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 812,533 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 198,313 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $4,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Itaú Unibanco during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 4,000.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 12,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 11,961 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco in the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. Fielder Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 17,106 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Itaú Unibanco during the third quarter valued at about $90,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

NYSE ITUB opened at $5.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $59.24 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a 52-week low of $4.42 and a 52-week high of $6.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.30.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were paid a $0.0527 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Itaú Unibanco’s previous dividend of $0.00. Itaú Unibanco’s payout ratio is presently 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.