VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) Stock Price Up 4.7% – Time to Buy?

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK)’s stock price shot up 4.7% during trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $22.88 and last traded at $23.08. Approximately 48,355 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 90,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VBNK. Zacks Research downgraded shares of VersaBank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial set a $20.00 target price on VersaBank in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Roth Capital increased their price objective on shares of VersaBank from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded VersaBank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, VersaBank presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.00.

VersaBank Stock Up 4.7%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.12 and a 200 day moving average of $19.42. The firm has a market cap of $749.15 million, a PE ratio of 30.35 and a beta of 1.04.

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.07). VersaBank had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $27.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $28.76 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that VersaBank will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

VersaBank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a C$0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. VersaBank’s payout ratio is 9.21%.

Institutional Trading of VersaBank

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in VersaBank by 0.3% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 187,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,429,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. K2 Principal Fund L.P. purchased a new position in shares of VersaBank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $239,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of VersaBank in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $274,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of VersaBank by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 36,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 18,289 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of VersaBank by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 112,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,597,000 after purchasing an additional 25,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.86% of the company’s stock.

VersaBank Company Profile

VersaBank is a digital-first, Schedule I chartered bank headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada. The bank operates primarily through electronic channels rather than a traditional branch network and gathers deposits through financial intermediaries, including deposit brokers and other financial institutions.

The company provides commercial lending and deposit products to businesses, financial intermediaries and specialty finance companies. Its lending activities include point-of-sale financing, commercial real estate and other asset-backed loans, as well as financing for public-sector and municipal projects.