United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on UCBI. Truist Financial increased their price objective on United Community Banks from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on United Community Banks from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. DA Davidson increased their target price on United Community Banks from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on United Community Banks from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $31.50.

United Community Banks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UCBI opened at $31.51 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.31. United Community Banks has a 1-year low of $21.63 and a 1-year high of $31.96. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.07. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $347.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. United Community Banks’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that United Community Banks will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On United Community Banks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UCBI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the fourth quarter worth $37,723,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the fourth quarter worth $20,850,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of United Community Banks by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,553,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,249,000 after buying an additional 556,939 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of United Community Banks by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,552,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $396,560,000 after buying an additional 274,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of United Community Banks by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 157,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,616,000 after buying an additional 72,582 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

United Community Banks Company Profile

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. It accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts.