United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $32.00 and last traded at $31.95, with a volume of 507693 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on UCB. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of United Community Banks from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of United Community Banks from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th.

United Community Banks Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03 and a beta of 0.88.

United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.01). United Community Banks had a return on equity of 8.36% and a net margin of 13.04%. The company had revenue of $384.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $237.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

United Community Banks Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. This is a positive change from United Community Banks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other United Community Banks news, CFO Jefferson L. Harralson sold 10,275 shares of United Community Banks stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value of $285,234.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 43,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,221,190.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About United Community Banks

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.