Unity Bancorp’s (UNTY) Buy Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated their buy rating on shares of Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $68.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

UNTY has been the topic of several other reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Unity Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Unity Bancorp from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Unity Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.50.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

UNTY stock opened at $60.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Unity Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.34 and a twelve month high of $62.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $58.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.51. The stock has a market cap of $603.71 million, a P/E ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.61.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.02). Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.10% and a net margin of 30.26%.The company had revenue of $33.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.62 million. Research analysts expect that Unity Bancorp will post 5.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Unity Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.83%.

Insider Transactions at Unity Bancorp

In other Unity Bancorp news, President George Boyan sold 6,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.16, for a total transaction of $384,776.64. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 25,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,479,887.40. This trade represents a 20.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 28.87% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unity Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UNTY. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in Unity Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,083,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Unity Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,299,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Unity Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,517,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,976,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,410,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

About Unity Bancorp

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.