Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $15.1333.

VLY has been the subject of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial set a $17.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 target price (up from $14.00) on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.4%

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $13.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 1.04. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $8.36 and a 52 week high of $14.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $531.89 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 8.68%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.64%.

Insider Activity

In other Valley National Bancorp news, COO Russell Barrett sold 90,537 shares of Valley National Bancorp 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 owned 64,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $868,821.18. This trade represents a 58.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VLY. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $103,120,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $79,787,000 after purchasing an additional 6,217,716 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $71,554,000. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 404.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,867,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,197,000 after purchasing an additional 4,704,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 260.8% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 5,239,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,197,000 after purchasing an additional 3,787,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.