Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Position in Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. $AUB

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. (NASDAQ:AUB) by 51.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,488 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,381 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares were worth $723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Atlantic Union Bankshares by 24.5% in the 2nd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares by 59.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,375,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares by 96.8% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,313,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,631,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,591 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,376,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,344,000 after purchasing an additional 224,267 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares by 76.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,219,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,416,000 after buying an additional 959,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AUB. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Atlantic Union Bankshares from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Atlantic Union Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. National Bankshares set a $46.00 price target on Atlantic Union Bankshares in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Raymond James Financial set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Atlantic Union Bankshares from $45.00 to $41.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Atlantic Union Bankshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.61.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AUB opened at $40.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 0.83. Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. has a 1 year low of $22.85 and a 1 year high of $40.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Atlantic Union Bankshares (NASDAQ:AUB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $319.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.92 million. Atlantic Union Bankshares had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 69.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Atlantic Union Bankshares Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This is an increase from Atlantic Union Bankshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Atlantic Union Bankshares’s dividend payout ratio is 79.14%.

Atlantic Union Bankshares 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.