Insider Selling: Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Director Sells $70,694.00 in Stock

Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Director Vincent Geraci sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total value of $70,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,359.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ UNTY opened at $27.70 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $280.88 million, a PE ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Unity Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.01 and a 52-week high of $30.70.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $25.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.15 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Unity Bancorp, Inc. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. This is an increase from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Unity Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unity Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Unity Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $117,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Unity Bancorp by 2.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 42,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Unity Bancorp by 80.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Unity Bancorp by 6.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 47.4% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $460,000 after purchasing an additional 5,352 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Unity Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd.

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.