Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $8.67.

Several brokerages have commented on VLY. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price (down previously from $12.00) on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total value of $127,001.72. Following the sale, the director now owns 224,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total value of $185,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,300. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total value of $127,001.72. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 224,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,451 shares of company stock valued at $378,452 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLY. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 155.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,642,000 after acquiring an additional 187,917 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 32,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 70,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 37,331 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $154,000. Finally, United Services Automobile Association increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 31,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ VLY opened at $6.70 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $7.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.28. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $890.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.76%.

About Valley National Bancorp

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.