Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $14.70 and last traded at $14.7150, with a volume of 355651 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (up from $14.00) on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.13.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.68.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 18.61%.The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $531.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 39.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Russell Barrett sold 90,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total transaction of $1,225,870.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 64,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $868,821.18. This represents a 58.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mitchell L. Crandell sold 25,495 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.63, for a total transaction of $372,991.85. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,577.08. This trade represents a 25.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 30,478,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,072,000 after purchasing an additional 88,894 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,029,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,200,000 after purchasing an additional 247,651 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $103,120,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,333,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,336,000 after purchasing an additional 702,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 1,013.8% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,831,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,787,000 after purchasing an additional 6,217,716 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY) is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, offering a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking products and services. Through its banking subsidiary, Valley National Bank, the company provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, mortgage services, treasury and cash management, foreign exchange and trade finance solutions. Complementary wealth management and insurance offerings round out its financial services platform, catering to individual, small-business and corporate clients.

Tracing its roots to the establishment of Wayne National Bank in 1927, Valley has grown into one of the largest banks in New Jersey by both assets and deposit share.