Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. This is a boost from Unity Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

Unity Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Unity Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 9.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unity Bancorp to earn $5.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.6%.

Unity Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of UNTY traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $46.16. 32,694 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,833. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.06 and a 200-day moving average of $41.07. Unity Bancorp has a one year low of $25.60 and a one year high of $51.22. The firm has a market cap of $460.95 million, a P/E ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 predict that Unity Bancorp will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Unity Bancorp news, SVP David G. Bove sold 4,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.78, for a total value of $194,932.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $460,174.86. This represents a 29.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Vincent Geraci sold 1,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.82, for a total value of $92,035.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,758 shares of company stock worth $700,874. 28.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.