Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,191 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLY. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 14,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 111,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 47,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $630,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares in the last quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 144,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VLY. TheStreet downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on 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. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total value of $406,668.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $7.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.09. Valley National Bancorp has a 12 month low of $6.39 and a 12 month high of $11.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $7.92 and its 200-day moving average is $8.84.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $449.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.49 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 14.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

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.