American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY - Free Report) by 53.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,975 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 34,089 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.98% of Unity Bancorp worth $4,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Unity Bancorp by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 152,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Unity Bancorp by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 94,750 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,227,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Unity Bancorp by 84.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,464 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Unity Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Unity Bancorp by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,932 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. 42.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Unity Bancorp news, SVP James Joseph Donovan sold 1,080 shares of Unity Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.88, for a total transaction of $52,790.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,178. This trade represents a 17.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Vincent Geraci sold 1,811 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 8,312 shares in the company, valued at $422,415.84. The trade was a 17.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,791 shares of company stock valued at $380,669 over the last quarter. 29.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNTY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (up from $51.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $54.00 target price (up from $53.00) on shares of Unity Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Unity Bancorp Stock Performance

Unity Bancorp stock traded down $1.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.53. 27,536 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,262. The firm's fifty day moving average is $44.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.09. The company has a market capitalization of $397.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.80. Unity Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.60 and a fifty-two week high of $51.22. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Unity Bancorp, Inc. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unity Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Unity Bancorp's payout ratio is 13.79%.

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.