JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 991,084 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 66.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,485,474 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 991,084 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $22,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 16,529 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 9.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 1,806 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 66.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 217,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,969,000 after buying an additional 86,473 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 384.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,970,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,276,000 after buying an additional 7,118,044 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY opened at $8.57 on Thursday. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.47 and a 52-week high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 1.06.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 63.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.67.

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.