Carlos Vazquez Acquires 2,500 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Stock

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Director Carlos Vazquez purchased 2,500 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.45 per share, for a total transaction of $33,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,189.40. This represents a 142.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Valley National Bancorp stock traded up $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $13.52. 285,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,169,412. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $12.32 and its 200-day moving average is $11.20. The firm has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.43 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $7.48 and a one year high of $13.87.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 17.11%.The business had revenue of $541.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $524.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Valley National Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VLY. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $641,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 92.7% in the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 308,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 148,329 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 115.6% in the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 966,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,294,000 after buying an additional 518,534 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,024,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,365,000 after acquiring an additional 224,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VLY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.20.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY) is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, offering a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking products and services. Through its banking subsidiary, Valley National Bank, the company provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, mortgage services, treasury and cash management, foreign exchange and trade finance solutions. Complementary wealth management and insurance offerings round out its financial services platform, catering to individual, small-business and corporate clients.

Tracing its roots to the establishment of Wayne National Bank in 1927, Valley has grown into one of the largest banks in New Jersey by both assets and deposit share.