Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Trading Up 4.9%

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)’s stock price was up 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $7.67 and last traded at $7.67. Approximately 3,317,872 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 6,068,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLY. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.91 and a 200-day moving average of $8.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $449.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.49 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.82% and a return on equity of 8.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 111.5% in the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 70,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 37,331 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 107.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,443,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,037,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301,128 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 155.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,642,000 after purchasing an additional 187,917 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 60.9% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 299,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,258,000 after purchasing an additional 113,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,427,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 356,880 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Company Profile

Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, private banking, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments.