Analysts Set Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Price Target at $65.50

Shares of Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.50.

UNTY has been the topic of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Unity Bancorp in a report on Friday, September 11th. Freedom Capital upgraded Unity Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Unity Bancorp from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th.

Unity Bancorp Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of UNTY opened at $57.06 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $572.88 million, a P/E ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Unity Bancorp has a 52 week low of $44.34 and a 52 week high of $62.50.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.02). Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.10% and a net margin of 30.26%.The firm had revenue of $33.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.62 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Unity Bancorp will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Unity Bancorp’s payout ratio is 11.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Unity Bancorp

In other news, President George Boyan sold 6,504 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.16, for a total transaction of $384,776.64. Following the sale, the president directly owned 25,015 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,479,887.40. The trade was a 20.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 28.87% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Unity Bancorp by 22.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,517,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $199,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,240,000. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $712,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

Unity Bancorp Company Profile

Unity Bancorp, Inc is the bank holding company for Unity Bank, a full-service community bank headquartered in Clinton, New Jersey. The company provides banking services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations through a network of branches and digital banking channels.

Unity Bank offers checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer lending, residential mortgages, home equity financing, commercial real estate loans, construction financing and business loans.