United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.00.

UCB has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stephens upped their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded shares of 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.

United Community Banks Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:UCB opened at $32.43 on Wednesday. United Community Banks has a 52 week low of $22.93 and a 52 week high of $36.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.75 and its 200-day moving average is $31.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 0.82.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.61 EPS.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio is 38.31%.

Insider Transactions at United Community Banks

In related news, CAO Alan H. Kumler sold 12,043 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 21,096 shares in the company, valued at $745,954.56. This represents a 36.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of United Community Banks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in United Community Banks by 0.8% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in United Community Banks by 1.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 124,347 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in United Community Banks during the 4th quarter worth about $48,450,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in United Community Banks by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,380,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,103,000 after purchasing an additional 571,296 shares during the last quarter. 82.29% of the stock is 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.