Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. (NASDAQ:AUB) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give Atlantic Union a consensus rating of Moderate Buy from nine firms (five buys, four holds) with an average 1‑year price target of $43.17, and several brokers recently raised targets to as high as $47.50.
• The company beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.97 vs. $0.86; revenue $391.33M vs. $378.95M) and analysts forecast ~$3.26 EPS for the year, while it pays a quarterly dividend yielding about 3.9% (72.6% payout ratio).
• Institutional ownership is high at about 78.6%, with sizable recent inflows including a new ~$87M position by T. Rowe Price and large stake increases from Congress Asset Management and State Street.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. (NASDAQ:AUB - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.1667.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AUB. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Atlantic Union Bankshares from $41.50 to $47.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:AUB opened at $38.05 on Friday. Atlantic Union Bankshares has a 12-month low of $22.85 and a 12-month high of $42.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.62 and a beta of 0.82. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $37.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.04.

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.11. Atlantic Union Bankshares had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 15.53%.The business had revenue of $391.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.95 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Atlantic Union Bankshares will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 13th. Atlantic Union Bankshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUB. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Atlantic Union Bankshares during the fourth quarter worth about $87,022,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares by 1,022.6% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,877,188 shares of the company's stock worth $66,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709,975 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares by 6,808.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,532,473 shares of the company's stock worth $54,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510,289 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares by 24.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,400,456 shares of the company's stock worth $231,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares by 1,128.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,398,654 shares of the company's stock worth $49,358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,284,759 shares in the last quarter. 78.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Company Profile

Atlantic Union Bankshares, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, operating through its principal subsidiary Atlantic Union Bank. The company offers a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions across Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Leveraging a network of full-service branches, commercial lending offices and digital platforms, Atlantic Union Bankshares focuses on relationship-driven solutions tailored to its regional client base.

Atlantic Union's product lineup includes traditional deposit accounts, such as checking, savings and money market accounts, along with certificates of deposit.

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