Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Trading Up 4.9%

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)’s share price was up 4.9% on Friday . The company traded as high as $7.67 and last traded at $7.67. Approximately 3,317,872 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 6,068,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 3.6 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $7.91 and a 200-day moving average of $8.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $449.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.49 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 14.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VLY. Quarry LP raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 198.1% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 24.4% during the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 8,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Company 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.