Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Hold"

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Unity Bancorp from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th.

Unity Bancorp Stock Performance

Unity Bancorp stock traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.73. 99,308 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,924. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.32. Unity Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $25.60 and a fifty-two week high of $51.22. The stock has a market cap of $448.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.01. Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 25.24%. The business had revenue of $29.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.81 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Unity Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unity Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Unity Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Donald E. Jr. Souders sold 1,333 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.23, for a total transaction of $54,959.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $349,506.71. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 29.68% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unity Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Unity Bancorp by 122.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 612 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Unity Bancorp by 11,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 1,221 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.31% of the company's stock.

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.