Xponance Inc. Buys New Position in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB)

Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 8,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in UCB. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Patten & Patten Inc. TN bought a new position in United Community Banks in the fourth quarter worth $255,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in United Community Banks during the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of United Community Banks during the 4th quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks in the 4th quarter worth about $498,000. 82.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UCB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James raised shares of United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group lowered their target price on shares of United Community Banks from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on United Community Banks from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

United Community Banks Stock Performance

Shares of United Community Banks stock opened at $28.58 on Friday. United Community Banks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.00 and a 1 year high of $35.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.47 and its 200 day moving average is $31.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.72, for a total transaction of $49,963.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,220,902.72. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO H Lynn Harton sold 31,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.84, for a total transaction of $1,072,017.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 112,444 shares in the company, valued at $3,805,104.96. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.