Versor Investments LP Purchases Shares of 28,150 United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 28,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $839,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UCB. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at approximately $132,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at approximately $179,000. Amalgamated Bank acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at approximately $957,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,897,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in United Community Banks during the first quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on UCB. Hovde Group increased their price target on United Community Banks from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of United Community Banks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of United Community Banks from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of United Community Banks from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of United Community Banks in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.23, for a total value of $50,000.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 75,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,274,081.98. This trade represents a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

United Community Banks Price Performance

Shares of UCB stock opened at $29.22 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 0.83. United Community Banks, Inc. has a one year low of $22.93 and a one year high of $35.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $276.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.85 million. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.42% and a net margin of 20.67%.United Community Banks’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share.

United Community Banks Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from United Community Banks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.68%.

United Community Banks 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. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts.