Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 94,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,050,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.08% of United Community Banks at the end of the most recent quarter.

Separately, Farther Finance Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the 4th quarter worth $80,000. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on United Community Banks from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James raised United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

United Community Banks Stock Up 2.2 %

United Community Banks stock opened at $28.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 0.90. United Community Banks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.00 and a 12 month high of $35.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.13.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

Insider Transactions at United Community Banks

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.72, for a total value of $49,963.44. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,876 shares in the company, valued at $2,220,902.72. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sally Pope Davis bought 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.19 per share, for a total transaction of $50,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,012.16. This represents a 122.95 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.54% 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.