United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.00.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their price objective on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of United Community Banks from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of United Community Banks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Hovde Group lowered shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at United Community Banks

In related news, CAO Alan H. Kumler sold 12,043 shares of United Community Banks stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $425,840.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 21,096 shares in the company, valued at $745,954.56. This trade represents a 36.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of United Community Banks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UCB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of United Community Banks by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,514,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,150,000 after purchasing an additional 120,156 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in United Community Banks by 1.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,681,000 after acquiring an additional 61,465 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of United Community Banks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,879,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,801,000 after acquiring an additional 56,756 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in United Community Banks by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,805,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,362,000 after buying an additional 124,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in United Community Banks in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,450,000. 82.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

United Community Banks Stock Performance

Shares of United Community Banks stock opened at $29.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.84. United Community Banks has a one year low of $22.93 and a one year high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.02). United Community Banks had a net margin of 21.35% and a return on equity of 9.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. United Community Banks’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

United Community Banks declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, December 8th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is presently 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.