Peregrine Capital Management LLC Sells 16,167 Shares of United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 167,984 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,167 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.14% of United Community Banks worth $5,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of United Community Banks by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,514,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,150,000 after purchasing an additional 120,156 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in United Community Banks by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,681,000 after buying an additional 61,465 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in United Community Banks by 7.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in United Community Banks during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,450,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on UCB shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of United Community Banks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens increased their price objective on United Community Banks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research downgraded United Community Banks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Hovde Group decreased their target price on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, United Community Banks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.40.

Insider Activity at United Community Banks

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.09, for a total value of $49,965.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 84,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,796,005.73. This trade represents a 1.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

United Community Banks Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE UCB opened at $36.04 on Thursday. United Community Banks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.65 and a 12-month high of $36.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick 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, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.70. The firm had revenue of $278.26 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 revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is currently 36.76%.

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.