United Community Banks (NASDAQ:UCB) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCB) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $28.67, but opened at $26.19. United Community Banks shares last traded at $27.82, with a volume of 59,127 shares.

The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.01). United Community Banks had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 13.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS.

United Community Banks Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is a positive change from United Community Banks’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. United Community Banks’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Truist Financial increased their price objective on United Community Banks from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

United Community Banks Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.02.

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.