Unity Bancorp (UNTY) Competitors

Unity Bancorp (NASDAQ:UNTY) and Nicolet Bankshares (NYSE:NIC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Is UNTY or NIC a better dividend stock?

Unity Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nicolet Bankshares pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Unity Bancorp pays out 13.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nicolet Bankshares pays out 13.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Unity Bancorp has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unity Bancorp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, UNTY or NIC?

Unity Bancorp has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nicolet Bankshares has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer UNTY or NIC?

Unity Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $52.50, indicating a potential upside of 27.06%. Nicolet Bankshares has a consensus price target of $119.25, indicating a potential upside of 7.75%. Given Unity Bancorp's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Unity Bancorp is more favorable than Nicolet Bankshares.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unity Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Nicolet Bankshares	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, UNTY or NIC?

Nicolet Bankshares has higher revenue and earnings than Unity Bancorp. Unity Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nicolet Bankshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unity Bancorp	$110.12M	3.77	$41.45M	$4.26	9.70
Nicolet Bankshares	$349.12M	4.82	$124.06M	$8.03	13.78

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in UNTY or NIC?

42.3% of Unity Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.1% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by institutional investors. 29.7% of Unity Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 16.4% of Nicolet Bankshares shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UNTY or NIC?

Unity Bancorp received 167 more outperform votes than Nicolet Bankshares when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.64% of users gave Unity Bancorp an outperform vote while only 10.71% of users gave Nicolet Bankshares an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Unity Bancorp	Outperform Votes 170 64.64%	Underperform Votes 93 35.36%
Nicolet Bankshares	Outperform Votes 3 10.71%	Underperform Votes 25 89.29%

Is UNTY or NIC more profitable?

Unity Bancorp has a net margin of 25.24% compared to Nicolet Bankshares' net margin of 23.83%. Unity Bancorp's return on equity of 15.08% beat Nicolet Bankshares' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unity Bancorp	25.24%	15.08%	1.59%
Nicolet Bankshares	23.83%	10.95%	1.41%

Does the media favor UNTY or NIC?

In the previous week, Unity Bancorp had 8 more articles in the media than Nicolet Bankshares. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Unity Bancorp and 9 mentions for Nicolet Bankshares. Nicolet Bankshares' average media sentiment score of 0.93 beat Unity Bancorp's score of 0.65 indicating that Nicolet Bankshares is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Unity Bancorp	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nicolet Bankshares	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Unity Bancorp beats Nicolet Bankshares on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.