Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in VersaBank $VBNK

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 703,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,364,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pembroke Management LTD grew its position in VersaBank by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 736,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,029,000 after acquiring an additional 213,037 shares during the last quarter. Mudita Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in VersaBank during the 4th quarter valued at $1,462,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in VersaBank by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,915,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,604,000 after purchasing an additional 75,358 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its position in VersaBank by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 354,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,330,000 after purchasing an additional 56,422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in VersaBank in the third quarter worth $642,000. 56.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

VersaBank Price Performance

VBNK stock opened at $19.61 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.93. VersaBank has a fifty-two week low of $10.62 and a fifty-two week high of $25.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $633.99 million, a PE ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 1.06.

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $28.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.86 million. VersaBank had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 9.34%. As a group, equities analysts expect that VersaBank will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VersaBank Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VBNK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Roth Capital upgraded VersaBank from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $25.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings cut VersaBank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of VersaBank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

About VersaBank

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.