United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) Board of Directors Declares Share Buyback Program

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, December 8th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

United Community Banks Stock Performance

UCB opened at $32.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.50. United Community Banks has a 52-week low of $22.93 and a 52-week high of $34.57.

United Community Banks (NYSE:UCB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $276.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.85 million. United Community Banks had a return on equity of 9.42% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm’s revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 EPS.

United Community Banks Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. United Community Banks’s payout ratio is presently 39.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of United Community Banks in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, United Community Banks has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Richard Bradshaw sold 1,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.23, for a total transaction of $50,000.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 75,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,274,081.98. This represents a 2.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

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. The company accepts various deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts.