United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on UCB. Weiss Ratings upgraded United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on United Community Banks from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research cut United Community Banks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on United Community Banks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.40.

United Community Banks Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:UCB opened at $32.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.23 and a 200-day moving average of $32.32. United Community Banks has a 12-month low of $27.23 and a 12-month high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The business had revenue of $278.27 million during the quarter. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 22.05%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that United Community Banks will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is currently 36.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Community Banks news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 84,497 shares in the company, valued at $2,796,005.73. The trade was a 1.76% 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. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of United Community Banks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in United Community Banks by 196.1% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 992 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.