United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB Shares Acquired by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,337,524 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,465 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.22% of United Community Banks worth $198,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 82.4% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 122,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 14.4% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 473,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,855,000 after purchasing an additional 59,650 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new stake in United Community Banks during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,831,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in United Community Banks during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,468,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in United Community Banks during the 2nd quarter worth $42,061,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Alan H. Kumler sold 12,043 shares of United Community Banks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $425,840.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 21,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $745,954.56. This trade represents a 36.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on UCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of United Community Banks from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Hovde Group downgraded United Community Banks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Stephens lifted their target price on United Community Banks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research upgraded United Community Banks from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.00.

United Community Banks Price Performance

UCB opened at $30.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.68 and a 200-day moving average of $32.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. United Community Banks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.93 and a 1-year high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.02). United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 21.35%.United Community Banks’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS.

United Community Banks declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, December 8th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.31%.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc (NYSE: UCB) is a bank holding company headquartered in Blairsville, Georgia. It operates primarily through its subsidiary, United Community Bank, providing a broad range of banking and financial services to individual, business and governmental customers. The company’s core offerings include deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, mortgage origination, treasury and cash management services, and wealth management.

In addition to traditional banking products such as checking, savings and money market accounts, United Community Bank specializes in commercial real estate financing, small business administration (SBA) loans, equipment financing and agricultural lending.