Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.1333.

VLY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $16.00 to $16.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. National Bank Financial set a $17.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 target price (up from $14.00) on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of VLY stock opened at $13.79 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a 1 year low of $8.36 and a 1 year high of $14.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 1.03.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 18.61% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $531.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 39.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valley National Bancorp

In related news, COO Russell Barrett sold 90,537 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.54, for a total transaction of $1,225,870.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 64,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $868,821.18. The trade was a 58.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VLY. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $103,120,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1,013.8% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,831,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,787,000 after buying an additional 6,217,716 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $71,554,000. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 404.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,867,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,197,000 after buying an additional 4,704,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 260.8% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 5,239,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,197,000 after buying an additional 3,787,203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Company Profile

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.