Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 15th.

Unity Bancorp Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of UNTY stock opened at $32.16 on Friday. Unity Bancorp has a 1-year low of $22.50 and a 1-year high of $35.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.87. The firm has a market cap of $320.96 million, a P/E ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.01). Unity Bancorp had a net margin of 24.37% and a return on equity of 14.71%. The company had revenue of $25.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.81 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Unity Bancorp will post 3.8 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James Joseph Donovan sold 750 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.97, for a total transaction of $26,227.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,805.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP James Joseph Donovan sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.97, for a total transaction of $26,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,805.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Minsu Kim sold 2,264 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.90, for a total transaction of $79,013.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,727.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,046 shares of company stock worth $106,265 in the last quarter. 28.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 478,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,159,000 after acquiring an additional 5,449 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Unity Bancorp by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 414,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,427,000 after purchasing an additional 3,170 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 35,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 2,393 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $884,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $815,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

About Unity Bancorp

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.