Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Short Interest Update

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,740,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the September 30th total of 29,580,000 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 19,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group lowered Itaú Unibanco from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Itaú Unibanco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 226,073 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 21,446 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 25.2% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 677,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,692,000 after purchasing an additional 136,234 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 17.4% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 108,295 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 16,040 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 571.3% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 6,888 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 5,862 shares during the period. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Itaú Unibanco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $123,000.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

Shares of Itaú Unibanco stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $6.07. 1,629,086 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,756,543. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.95, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.27. Itaú Unibanco has a 52-week low of $5.47 and a 52-week high of $7.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The bank reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.01. Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.14% and a net margin of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $16.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Itaú Unibanco will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Itaú Unibanco Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a $0.003 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Itaú Unibanco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.95%.

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.