297,562 Shares in United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB Acquired by Algebris UK Ltd.

Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 297,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,294,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UCB. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in United Community Banks by 196.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 992 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in United Community Banks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in United Community Banks by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of United Community Banks by 130.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. 82.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.09, for a total transaction of $49,965.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 84,497 shares in the company, valued at $2,796,005.73. The trade was a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UCB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of United Community Banks from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of United Community Banks in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on United Community Banks from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, United Community Banks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.40.

United Community Banks Stock Up 2.5%

UCB stock opened at $33.29 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.23 and a 1 year high of $36.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 0.83.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.70. United Community Banks had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $278.27 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 2.99 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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is currently 36.76%.

United Community Banks 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.