Ruffer LLP Takes $3.05 Million Position in United Community Banks, Inc. $UCB

Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in shares of United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 97,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,053,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of United Community Banks during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of United Community Banks during the third quarter worth about $37,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of United Community Banks by 130.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of United Community Banks during the first quarter worth about $67,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of United Community Banks during the fourth quarter worth about $100,000. 82.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their price objective on United Community Banks from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded United Community Banks from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded United Community Banks from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stephens raised their price objective on United Community Banks from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded United Community Banks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, United Community Banks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other United Community Banks news, CAO Alan H. Kumler sold 12,043 shares of United Community Banks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $425,840.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 21,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $745,954.56. The trade was a 36.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting United Community Banks

Here are the key news stories impacting United Community Banks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue and margin beat — Q1 revenue of $277.3M came in ahead of expectations and management highlighted net interest margin gains, supporting the idea of healthier core income. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: NIM guidance and cost saves — Management signaled a modest 3–5 bps NIM expansion for Q2 and said the Peach State deal targets ~40% cost savings, both of which support near-term margin improvement and EPS accretion. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition announced — United agreed to buy Peach State Bancshares in a stock + cash transaction (≈$100.8M), which expands footprint and offers targeted cost synergies; investors often view tidy, bolt-on deals positively when they’re accretive. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: EPS in line — Reported adjusted EPS of $0.70 matched the Street consensus (and was up YoY from $0.58), so the quarter was solid but not a surprise that would drive a major re-rating. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Conference materials and call available — Management provided a slide deck and earnings call transcript with additional color on credit trends and capital — useful for confirming whether margin guidance and asset quality trends are sustainable. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Deal and growth criticisms — Analysts note the Peach State acquisition is small relative to United’s franchise and unlikely to materially change the investment thesis; some argue valuation (forward P/E ~11.5; P/TBV ~1.48x cited) is slightly above peers and not fully supported by expected growth. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Minor estimate misses and mixed analyst notes — Some outlets (Zacks) flagged a small EPS/revenue miss versus their consensus, which can temper enthusiasm despite overall solid metrics. Article Title

United Community Banks Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of UCB stock opened at $33.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. United Community Banks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.67 and a fifty-two week high of $36.77.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70. The business had revenue of $277.30 million during the quarter. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 21.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that United Community Banks, Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

United Community Banks Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is presently 38.31%.

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.