Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 7,200 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 90,287 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 32,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 15,371 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 145,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 79,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 22,636 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,089,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,874,000 after acquiring an additional 96,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 418,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after acquiring an additional 21,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 2.6 %

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $9.84 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.47 and a one year high of $11.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VLY. StockNews.com downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 495,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This represents 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 Profile

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.