Piper Sandler Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY)

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $54.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $53.00. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.23% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on UNTY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Unity Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Unity Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

Unity Bancorp stock traded down $0.11 on Thursday, reaching $45.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,843. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $452.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.56. Unity Bancorp has a twelve month low of $25.33 and a twelve month high of $48.44.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Unity Bancorp had a net margin of 24.46% and a return on equity of 14.63%. Equities analysts expect that Unity Bancorp will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Unity Bancorp news, SVP David G. Bove sold 4,167 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.78, for a total value of $194,932.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $460,174.86. This trade represents a 29.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Peter E. Maricondo sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.74, for a total transaction of $125,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,768,214.28. This trade represents a 6.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,810 shares of company stock worth $499,642. Insiders own 28.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Unity Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNTY. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Unity Bancorp by 84.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Unity Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $623,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Unity Bancorp by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 152,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Unity Bancorp by 93.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Unity Bancorp by 0.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. 42.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Unity Bancorp Company Profile

Unity Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Unity Bank that provides range of commercial and retail banking services to individuals, small and medium sized businesses, and professional communities. It offers personal and business checking accounts, time deposits, money market accounts, savings accounts, and retirement accounts, as well as noninterest and interest-bearing demand deposits.