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

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 27,408 put options on the company. This is an increase of 183% compared to the typical volume of 9,683 put options.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $7.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 1.09. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.39 and a 52-week high of $11.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.84 and a 200 day moving average of $8.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.49 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.82% and a return on equity of 8.67%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 46.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush decreased their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays started coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.67.

Insider Activity at Valley National Bancorp

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,625,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,492,000 after purchasing an additional 198,236 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,889,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $270,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,800 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 7.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,025,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,499,000 after purchasing an additional 920,140 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,294,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,361,000 after purchasing an additional 259,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,093,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,314,000 after purchasing an additional 161,121 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.