Bailard Inc. Buys Shares of 26,800 United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 26,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $798,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UCB. Quarry LP acquired a new position in United Community Banks in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in United Community Banks by 213.8% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the period. CWM LLC bought a new stake in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at about $62,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the first quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 13,585.0% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 2,717 shares during the period. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Community Banks news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.23, for a total transaction of $50,000.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 75,226 shares in the company, valued at $2,274,081.98. This trade represents a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UCB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their target price on United Community Banks from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded United Community Banks from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of United Community Banks from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group raised their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of United Community Banks in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.33.

United Community Banks Price Performance

Shares of UCB stock opened at $29.96 on Friday. United Community Banks, Inc. has a one year low of $22.93 and a one year high of $35.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.91.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $276.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.85 million. United Community Banks had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 9.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio is 39.68%.

About United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc operates as the financial holding company for United Community Bank that provides financial products and services to commercial, retail, government, education, energy, health care, and real estate sectors. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts.