Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as “Buy” by DA Davidson

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $68.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.30% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Freedom Capital raised shares of Unity Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Unity Bancorp from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.50.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ UNTY traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.06. 64,587 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 54,854. The company has a market cap of $562.84 million, a P/E ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.34. 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 twelve month low of $44.34 and a twelve month high of $62.50.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $36.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.63 million. Unity Bancorp had a net margin of 31.00% and a return on equity of 16.34%. As a group, analysts forecast that Unity Bancorp will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Unity Bancorp

In other news, President George Boyan sold 6,504 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the president owned 25,015 shares in the company, valued at $1,479,887.40. The trade was a 20.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 28.87% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unity Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Unity Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,299,000. Maltese Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $8,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Unity Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,410,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Unity Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,976,000. 42.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Unity Bancorp

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.