First Trust Advisors LP Acquires Shares of 15,696 VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK)

First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 15,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in VersaBank by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 17,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 1,841 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in VersaBank during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its holdings in VersaBank by 55.3% during the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 5,700 shares in the last quarter. Salzhauer Michael purchased a new stake in VersaBank during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in VersaBank during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $159,000. 56.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm lowered shares of VersaBank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $10.40 in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of VersaBank in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $10.40 target price on shares of VersaBank in a report on Thursday, March 6th.

VersaBank Stock Performance

VBNK stock opened at $11.08 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.13. VersaBank has a fifty-two week low of $8.51 and a fifty-two week high of $18.38. The firm has a market cap of $360.31 million, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.99.

VersaBank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This is a positive change from VersaBank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. VersaBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.38%.

VersaBank Company Profile

VersaBank provides various banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It offers deposit products, such as web-based chequing accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, registered retirement savings plans, and tax-free savings accounts, as well as deposit insurance products. The company also provides lending services, including point of sale financing that covers purchasing loan and lease receivables from finance companies operating in various industries; commercial banking services comprising commercial real estate, public sector/infrastructure financing, and condominium financing; and residential mortgages.