SAO PAULO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's Itau Unibanco ( ITUB )

, Latin America's largest private lender, on Tuesday

posted second-quarter profit that was up 15.2% from a year

earlier, boosted by higher revenues and lower cost of credit.

Itau posted a 10.07 billion real net recurring profit ($1.8

billion) for the quarter ended in June, slightly more than the

9.99 billion reais estimated by analysts polled by LSEG.

Return on equity, a gauge of profitability, stood at 22.4%,

up from 20.9% a year earlier.

Although net profit was mostly in line with estimates,

analysts welcomed the results.

"An overall healthy print by Itau Unibanco ( ITUB )," analysts at

Citi said in a note. "The bank maintains strong momentum across

the board and continues accumulating capital, which should bode

well for investors' total returns in the mid-term."

Itau's main rivals Bradesco and Santander Brasil

have both reported net income above market

expectations.

Itau's net recurring profit increase was helped by a 6.4%

annual rise in net interest income, a measure of loans minus

deposit costs and its largest source of revenue.

The performance was boosted by a nearly 6% rise in the

bank's credit portfolio from the previous quarter to 1.25

trillion reais, with Itau accelerating credit growth following

recent mild quarters.

The bank in the last two years has implemented a strategy to

revise the credit given to highly indebted customers, which

slowed its portfolio growth, but executives had said Itau would

now start to accelerate credit again to reach its 2024 guidance.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan called it a "good" quarter,

highlighting loan growth acceleration. "Consistency continues to

summarize Itau with another good quality result," they wrote.

Itau's delinquency rate for loans more than 90 days overdue

came in at 2.7%, in line with the previous quarter and 0.3

percentage point down year-on-year.

Itau's net recurring profit also benefited from its cost of

credit, which fell almost 7% from a year earlier to 8.8 billion

reais.

Itau maintained its 2024 guidance.

($1 = 5.6572 reais)