Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases New Stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB)

Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 355,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,492,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UCB. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $450,141,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $42,837,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $27,535,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought a new stake in United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $21,599,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new stake in United Community Banks in the 4th quarter valued at $13,571,000. Institutional investors own 82.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Raymond James upgraded United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday.

United Community Banks Stock Performance

UCB opened at $25.44 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.80. United Community Banks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.21 and a 52-week high of $35.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.87 and its 200-day moving average is $30.79.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

Insider Transactions at United Community Banks

In related news, CEO H Lynn Harton sold 31,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.84, for a total value of $1,072,017.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 112,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,805,104.96. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sally Pope Davis acquired 1,800 shares of United Community Banks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $28.19 per share, for a total transaction of $50,742.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by 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.