United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB Shares Sold by Systematic Financial Management LP

Systematic Financial Management LP cut its holdings in United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 878,302 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,977 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP owned 0.73% of United Community Banks worth $27,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in United Community Banks by 0.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 position in United Community Banks during the 4th quarter worth about $48,450,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in United Community Banks by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,380,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,103,000 after acquiring an additional 571,296 shares during the period. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UCB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of United Community Banks from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of United Community Banks in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen lowered United Community Banks from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.09, for a total value of $49,965.90. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

United Community Banks Trading Down 0.2%

UCB opened at $34.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. United Community Banks, Inc. has a one year low of $28.65 and a one year high of $37.18. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.47.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.09). United Community Banks had a net margin of 24.43% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $279.28 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 2.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is 32.89%.

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.