Analysts Set Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Price Target at $9.67

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.67.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays started coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total value of $406,668.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company 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. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,869,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,476,000 after purchasing an additional 5,374,624 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2,232.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,936,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,836,000 after purchasing an additional 4,725,214 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $49,734,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,116,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $189,346,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008,420 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 92.6% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,415,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $7.31 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.39 and a 52-week high of $11.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 14.82%. The business had revenue of $449.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.02%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 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.