Valley National Bancorp Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 7,633 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 118% compared to the typical volume of 3,499 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carlos J. Vazquez acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.45 per share, for a total transaction of $33,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,189.40. The trade was a 142.69% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Corp raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 3,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 77.4% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLY. Raymond James Financial upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $15.50 to $14.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $16.00 target price on Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.64.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.2%

VLY stock opened at $12.42 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $7.48 and a 52 week high of $13.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.03.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 17.11% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $524.31 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Valley National Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 43.56%.

Valley National Bancorp Company Profile

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.