Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.74 Million in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCBI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCBI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 59,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,741,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of United Community Banks by 97.5% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of United Community Banks by 113.1% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of United Community Banks by 25.9% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the fourth quarter valued at about $105,000. 82.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UCBI. TheStreet lowered shares of United Community Banks from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of United Community Banks in a research note on Monday, January 15th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of United Community Banks to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

United Community Banks Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of UCBI opened at $24.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $25.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.19. United Community Banks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.37 and a twelve month high of $30.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.94.

United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $165.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.07 million. United Community Banks had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.36%.

United Community Banks Company Profile

United Community Banks, Inc operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts.