Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Trading Down 4.4% on Disappointing Earnings

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) shares traded down 4.4% during mid-day trading on Friday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as low as $7.42 and last traded at $7.43. 1,559,110 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 6,188,353 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.77.

The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 14.82%. The firm had revenue of $890.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 EPS.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.01%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VLY. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.33.

Insider Activity at Valley National Bancorp

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 62,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 534,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 122,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.5% in the third quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 36,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 38,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Down 5.8 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $7.81 and a 200 day moving average of $8.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

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.