Have Insiders Sold Unity Bancorp Shares Recently?

We note that the Unity Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTY) First Senior VP & Director of Mortgage Lending, Vincent Geraci, recently sold US$71k worth of stock for US$27.19 per share. It might not be a huge sale, but it did reduce their holding size 22%, hardly encouraging.

See our latest analysis for Unity Bancorp

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Unity Bancorp

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Independent Director, Donald Souders, for US$216k worth of shares, at about US$23.20 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$27.70, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 49% of Donald Souders's holding.

Insiders in Unity Bancorp didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership Of Unity Bancorp

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Unity Bancorp insiders own about US$30m worth of shares. That equates to 11% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Unity Bancorp Tell Us?

An insider hasn't bought Unity Bancorp stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. On the plus side, Unity Bancorp makes money, and is growing profits. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Unity Bancorp you should know about.

Of course Unity Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.