SAO PAULO, May 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian lender Itau Unibanco reported on Monday a 15.8% growth in first-quarter net profit, in line with analysts' expectations.

The country's largest private bank posted recurring net profit of 9.77 billion reais ($151.69 million) for the quarter ended in March, while analysts polled by LSEG expected 9.73 billion reais. ($1 = 5.0762 reais) (Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by Steven Grattan)