Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $65.50

Shares of Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $65.50.

UNTY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Unity Bancorp from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Freedom Capital upgraded Unity Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ UNTY opened at $56.40 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $566.26 million, a PE ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.65. Unity Bancorp has a 52 week low of $44.34 and a 52 week high of $62.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.37.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.02. Unity Bancorp had a net margin of 31.00% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $36.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.63 million. Research analysts predict that Unity Bancorp will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. This is an increase from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Unity Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.26%.

Insider Transactions at Unity Bancorp

In other Unity Bancorp news, President George Boyan sold 6,504 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.16, for a total transaction of $384,776.64. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 25,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,479,887.40. The trade was a 20.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 28.87% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Unity Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UNTY. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,299,000. Maltese Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Unity Bancorp by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 159,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Unity Bancorp by 9.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 49,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,584,000 after acquiring an additional 4,308 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Unity Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $2,410,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Unity Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $1,976,000. Institutional investors own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

Unity Bancorp Company Profile

Unity Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Unity Bank, a community-focused financial institution serving individuals, families and businesses in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Clinton, New Jersey, Unity Bank operates through a network of branches and provides relationship-based banking services to customers in its local markets.

The bank offers a range of deposit products, including checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. Its lending activities include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgages, home equity loans and consumer loans.