Brokerages Set United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) Target Price at $38.40

Shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.40.

A number of analysts have commented on UCB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of United Community Banks in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on United Community Banks from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Hovde Group cut their price objective on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th.

United Community Banks Stock Performance

Shares of UCB stock opened at $33.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.22. United Community Banks has a one year low of $27.23 and a one year high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70. The firm had revenue of $276.51 million during the quarter. United Community Banks had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that United Community Banks will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.09, for a total transaction of $49,965.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 84,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,796,005.73. This trade represents a 1.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of United Community Banks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UCB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of United Community Banks during the 4th quarter worth about $48,450,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in United Community Banks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,183,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in United Community Banks by 125.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 774,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,286,000 after purchasing an additional 431,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in United Community Banks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,423,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

United Community Banks Company Profile

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.