Cibc World Market Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,151,992 VersaBank $VBNK

Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,151,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,781,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of VersaBank by 33.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 20,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 5,144 shares during the period. Salzhauer Michael raised its holdings in VersaBank by 68.4% in the second quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 16,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,000 after acquiring an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. purchased a new position in VersaBank in the second quarter worth approximately $239,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in VersaBank in the second quarter worth approximately $274,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in VersaBank during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 56.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Capital raised shares of VersaBank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of VersaBank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of VersaBank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.00.

VersaBank Price Performance

Shares of VBNK opened at $19.82 on Monday. VersaBank has a 1-year low of $10.61 and a 1-year high of $25.05. The stock has a market cap of $640.78 million, a PE ratio of 28.72 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.88.

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 3rd. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. VersaBank had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 9.34%.The company had revenue of $28.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.86 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that VersaBank will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VersaBank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. VersaBank’s dividend payout ratio is 10.14%.

VersaBank Company Profile

VersaBank is a Canadian Schedule I chartered bank that operates as a fully digital institution, offering a range of deposit and lending solutions through its proprietary technology platform. Headquartered in London, Ontario, the bank has chosen to forego a traditional branch network in favor of online and digital distribution, enabling it to serve clients across Canada and the United States with efficiency and lower overhead.

The bank’s primary business activities include the origination and securitization of commercial loans, equipment financing, residential mortgages and construction loans.