United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCBI) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCBI) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.60.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of United Community Banks from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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. Truist Financial lowered their price target on United Community Banks from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of United Community Banks in a research report on Monday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised United Community Banks to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UCBI. Norges Bank bought a new position in United Community Banks during the fourth quarter worth about $37,723,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in United Community Banks by 15.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,518,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,539 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of United Community Banks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,850,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 valued at $133,249,000 after acquiring an additional 556,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 21.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,913,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,633,000 after acquiring an additional 337,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

United Community Banks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:UCBI opened at $26.39 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. United Community Banks has a 1 year low of $20.78 and a 1 year high of $30.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 0.92.

United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $225.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.00 million. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 8.02% and a net margin of 13.62%. United Community Banks’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that United Community Banks will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.74%.

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