United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of United Community Banks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Hovde Group decreased their price target on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings cut United Community Banks from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on United Community Banks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.40.

United Community Banks Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of UCB stock opened at $35.58 on Friday. United Community Banks has a 12-month low of $28.65 and a 12-month high of $36.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last released 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 $278.26 million for the quarter. United Community Banks had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 9.65%. United Community Banks’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that United Community Banks will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 84,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,796,005.73. This represents a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in United Community Banks by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,514,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,150,000 after buying an additional 120,156 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in United Community Banks by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,520,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,315,000 after buying an additional 182,397 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,805,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,362,000 after buying an additional 124,347 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $48,450,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of United Community Banks by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,380,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,103,000 after buying an additional 571,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

About United Community Banks

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.