Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Shares Bought by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) by 53.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,089 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Unity Bancorp were worth $4,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Unity Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $200,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA acquired a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $1,256,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 78.3% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 32,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,423,000 after buying an additional 14,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Unity Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,247,000. 42.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UNTY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up previously from $51.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $54.00 price objective (up previously from $53.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP James Joseph Donovan sold 1,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total value of $52,790.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,178. This trade represents a 17.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vincent Geraci sold 1,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.82, for a total value of $92,035.02. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,415.84. This trade represents a 17.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,791 shares of company stock valued at $380,669 in the last 90 days. 29.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Unity Bancorp Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ UNTY opened at $38.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $389.55 million, a P/E ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 0.95. Unity Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.60 and a 1 year high of $51.22.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. Unity Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 25.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Unity Bancorp, Inc. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This is a boost from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Unity Bancorp’s payout ratio is 13.79%.

Unity Bancorp 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.