Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) Stock

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.98% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on UCB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Hovde Group lowered United Community Banks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 9th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research lowered United Community Banks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, United Community Banks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.40.

United Community Banks Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE UCB opened at $33.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. United Community Banks has a 52 week low of $26.24 and a 52 week high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The firm had revenue of $277.30 million for the quarter. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 22.05%.The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that United Community Banks will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of United Community Banks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UCB. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in United Community Banks by 82.4% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 122,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 55,402 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in United Community Banks by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 473,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,855,000 after purchasing an additional 59,650 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in United Community Banks in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,831,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in United Community Banks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,681,000 after purchasing an additional 61,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in United Community Banks in the 3rd quarter worth about $13,423,000. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.