United Community Banks reports Q3 operating EPS 57c, consensus 58c

Maintained robust capital ratios with preliminary CET1 increasing to 13.1% and opportunistically redeemed $8 million of relatively expensive Trust Preferred securities. Net interest margin of 3.33% decreased by four basis points from the second quarter mostly due to lower purchased loan accretion, the sale of our manufactured housing portfolio, and changing composition of our earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Chairman and CEO Lynn Harton stated, “We continue to focus on growth and the third quarter saw the return of modest loan and strong deposit growth. Excluding the sale of our manufactured housing portfolio, announced in early September, loan balances were up 1.5% annualized. Customer deposits, which exclude brokered deposits, were up $262 million, or 5% annualized. Our balance sheet remains highly liquid and our internal capital generation rate is running well in excess of our current capital needs. We maintained robust capital ratios with our preliminary CET1 moving to 13.1% and we opportunistically redeemed $8 million of relatively expensive Trust Preferred securities. The increase in liquidity and capital place us in a great position to take advantage of growth opportunities as we move into 2025. We elected to sell our manufactured housing loan book, a business that was part of our Reliant Bancorp, Inc. acquisition in January of 2022, as a natural conclusion of our exit from the business, as we ceased originating loans in the third quarter of 2023. The transaction reduces our risk profile and allows us to allocate capital to other growth opportunities.”