Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Short Interest Update

Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) saw a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 36,800 shares, an increase of 18.7% from the November 30th total of 31,000 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 29,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 478,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,159,000 after purchasing an additional 5,449 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Unity Bancorp by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 152,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Unity Bancorp by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Unity Bancorp by 79.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 88,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,005,000 after acquiring an additional 39,033 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 2,393 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

Unity Bancorp Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of Unity Bancorp stock traded down $1.16 on Friday, hitting $43.34. 35,688 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,988. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $432.79 million, a PE ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.18. Unity Bancorp has a 52 week low of $25.33 and a 52 week high of $48.44.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $27.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.40 million. Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 24.46%. Equities research analysts predict that Unity Bancorp will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Unity Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Unity Bancorp’s payout ratio is 13.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNTY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Unity Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Unity Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

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.