December 17, 2025 — Nu Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NU), the parent of Brazilian digital bank Nubank, traded lower Wednesday as investors digested a fresh wave of institutional-position updates and a new read on options-market sentiment—with Wall Street’s broader risk appetite also cooling. [1]
As of this afternoon, NU shares were down roughly 2% in U.S. trading, hovering in the mid-$15 range after opening above $16. [2]
Below is what’s driving today’s conversation around Nu Holdings stock, what analysts are forecasting into 2026, and the catalysts investors are watching next.
Nu Holdings stock price check: where NU trades on Dec. 17, 2025
Nu Holdings shares traded lower on Wednesday, with real-time quotes showing NU down about 2% on the session. [3]
For context, NU has been volatile in recent weeks: the stock’s 52-week range is roughly $9.01 to $17.84, underscoring both the upside investors have chased in 2025 and the pullbacks that can follow. [4]
The market backdrop: risk-off tone hits growth names
Today’s move is also playing out against a softer tape. U.S. stocks slid on Dec. 17, with Reuters pointing to weakness in heavyweight tech names and broader “market fatigue” around parts of the AI trade—conditions that often pressure higher-beta growth stocks, including fintech and consumer-facing financial platforms. [5]
What’s “new” on Dec. 17: institutional investors reshuffle NU exposure
A cluster of 13F-related filings and summaries hit the tape today, painting a mixed—but active—picture of how institutions are positioning around Nu Holdings.
Assenagon sharply increases stake in Q3
One of the biggest headlines: Assenagon Asset Management boosted its NU holdings by 91.9% in Q3 to 16.1 million shares, adding about 7.7 million shares (per the firm’s filing-based disclosure). [6]
The same update also highlighted heavy institutional participation in the name more broadly (including mentions of large global holders establishing or adding to positions), reinforcing that NU remains a “crowded” stock among professional investors. [7]
Northside trims position; Salem sells shares
Not all moves were adds:
- Northside Capital Management cut its stake by 20.5% in Q3, ending with about 512,727 shares. [8]
- Salem Investment Counselors trimmed its position by 6.3%, selling 142,784 shares and ending Q3 with about 2.14 million shares. [9]
Hamilton Lane initiates a notable new position
Another eye-catching update: Hamilton Lane Advisors disclosed a new position of roughly 1.13 million shares, valued around $18 million. [10]
Why these filings matter (and why they can mislead)
Institutional filings can influence sentiment because they hint at conviction among large allocators—but they’re also backward-looking and can reflect portfolio rebalancing rather than a fresh fundamental view. Still, today’s cluster of updates shows NU is very much “in motion” among institutions rather than being quietly held. [11]
Options traders turn cautious: low volatility, but rising demand for protection
A separate Dec. 17 read from GuruFocus flagged a nuanced shift in derivatives sentiment:
- Options activity was described as normal, with calls outpacing puts, but a put/call ratio modestly above the usual level cited in the report. [12]
- Implied volatility was characterized as low (in the bottom decile of the past year in that write-up), which typically signals the options market is not pricing in dramatic near-term swings. [13]
- At the same time, GuruFocus noted a steeper put-call skew, often interpreted as increased interest in downside hedges. [14]
The takeaway: the options market isn’t screaming “crash,” but it’s also not carefree—traders appear to be paying up for protection even while overall volatility expectations remain muted. [15]
Fundamentals: what Nu’s latest quarterly results say about the business
Even with day-to-day market noise, Nu’s bull case still rests on one central story: profitable scale across Latin America.
In its Q3 2025 results, Nu reported:
- 127 million customers globally, with roughly 4.3 million net additions in the quarter and activity above 83% [16]
- Revenue of $4.2 billion (record quarterly revenue in the release) [17]
- Net income of $783 million, and a record annualized ROE of 31% [18]
- Net interest income of $2.3 billion and reported NIM of 17.3% (with the company also emphasizing improvement in risk-adjusted NIM) [19]
- A Brazil-focused credit quality snapshot showing 15–90 day NPL at 4.2% and 90+ day NPL at 6.8% (as cited in the release) [20]
Management also described an “AI-first” strategy—integrating foundation models across operations—to improve personalization, risk management, and efficiency. [21]
Strategic catalysts investors are pricing: Brazil banking license plan and U.S. charter optionality
Brazil: banking license targeted for 2026
One of the most important recent regulatory/branding developments: Nubank said it intends to obtain a banking license in Brazil in 2026 to comply with Joint Resolution No. 17 on brand-name usage for regulated institutions. The company said the brand and visual identity will remain unchanged and that the move should have no impact on clients, with operations continuing normally. [22]
Nubank also stated it has more than 110 million customers in Brazil and that the change does not materially alter additional capital and liquidity requirements (per its statement). [23]
U.S.: national bank charter application
Nu/Nubank has also been laying groundwork outside Latin America. In late September, Nubank announced it applied for a U.S. national bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), positioning it—eventually—to offer products such as deposit accounts, credit, lending, and digital asset custody in the U.S. (subject to approvals). [24]
Reuters framed the move as its most concrete step toward expansion beyond Latin America, while reiterating management’s emphasis that the core focus remains growth in existing markets. [25]
Wall Street forecasts: what analysts expect for NU into 2026
Consensus rating and price targets
Across major tracking platforms, NU is generally viewed favorably:
- MarketBeat shows a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target around $17.71, with a published low/high range of $16 to $19. [26]
- StockAnalysis shows a “Buy” consensus from a smaller analyst set and an average price target around $17.60 (with $16–$19 as low/high). [27]
Notably, Santander was reported to have upgraded NU to Outperform with a $22 target in early December, citing accelerating growth momentum in Brazil and Mexico. [28]
Recent price-target changes and themes
A November analyst note recap carried by Investing.com reported BofA Securities raised its target to $18 from $16 while keeping a Neutral rating, pointing to AI-related initiatives and a “second growth curve” around Mexico—while still describing the U.S. charter as a potentially “transformational” longer-term opportunity. [29]
Revenue and EPS trajectory (street-model view)
StockAnalysis’ compiled analyst financial forecast data points to continued growth expectations into 2026, including projections for higher revenue and EPS versus 2025 (based on the analyst dataset shown on its forecast page). [30]
Because estimates vary widely by source and methodology, investors typically focus less on the precise number and more on whether revisions are moving up or down—and recent commentary has highlighted positive estimate revisions in the wake of Q3 performance and regulatory clarity around Brazil’s license plan. [31]
The debate: is NU still undervalued, or is the market already paying for perfection?
NU’s valuation remains a central tension in the story.
- On one hand, NU trades at a premium multiple versus traditional banks, reflecting its growth profile, customer acquisition engine, and improving profitability. [32]
- On the other hand, valuation-oriented models can look harsh on fast growers. A Simply Wall St valuation piece this month argued the stock screens overvalued under certain frameworks and highlighted a wide gap between model-derived “intrinsic value” and the market price—an example of how sensitive fintech valuation can be to assumptions around growth, cost of equity, and long-run returns. [33]
That split—growth compounding versus valuation discipline—is why NU can rally hard on execution and still pull back quickly when sentiment shifts.
What to watch next for Nu Holdings stock
Investors tracking NU into year-end and early 2026 are likely to focus on a few practical markers:
- Credit quality and risk-adjusted profitability as Nu expands lending across products and customer tiers (watch NPL trends and risk-adjusted NIM commentary). [34]
- Mexico scale-up progress, including regulatory milestones and unit economics as the market matures. [35]
- Brazil banking license execution and whether tighter standardization requirements remain truly operationally “neutral,” as Nubank has stated. [36]
- U.S. charter pathway—not because near-term revenue depends on it, but because approvals, timelines, and scope could materially change the long-term narrative. [37]
- Institutional flows and hedging behavior, which—based on today’s filings and options commentary—are active drivers of short-term tape action. [38]
Bottom line
On Dec. 17, 2025, Nu Holdings stock is trading lower in a softer market, with the day’s most visible “new” headlines centered on institutional repositioning (adds and trims across multiple managers) and a derivatives-market read showing cautious hedging despite low implied volatility. [39]
Fundamentally, Nu’s last reported quarter still supports the core thesis: rapid customer growth, improving scale economics, and strong profitability metrics—alongside a growing list of strategic “optionality” catalysts from Brazil’s 2026 bank-license plan to longer-horizon U.S. expansion. [40]
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. stockanalysis.com, 3. www.marketbeat.com, 4. stockanalysis.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.marketbeat.com, 7. www.marketbeat.com, 8. www.marketbeat.com, 9. www.marketbeat.com, 10. www.marketbeat.com, 11. www.marketbeat.com, 12. www.gurufocus.com, 13. www.gurufocus.com, 14. www.gurufocus.com, 15. www.gurufocus.com, 16. www.businesswire.com, 17. www.businesswire.com, 18. www.businesswire.com, 19. www.businesswire.com, 20. www.businesswire.com, 21. www.businesswire.com, 22. international.nubank.com.br, 23. international.nubank.com.br, 24. www.businesswire.com, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. www.marketbeat.com, 27. stockanalysis.com, 28. www.tipranks.com, 29. www.investing.com, 30. stockanalysis.com, 31. simplywall.st, 32. stockanalysis.com, 33. simplywall.st, 34. www.businesswire.com, 35. www.businesswire.com, 36. international.nubank.com.br, 37. www.businesswire.com, 38. www.marketbeat.com, 39. www.reuters.com, 40. www.businesswire.com
