Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 2,500 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,095 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 54.9% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 5,568 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $4,326,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,734,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $390,000. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $8.00 to $9.50 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.31.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 5.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $8.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.02 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.64. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $884.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $458.67 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.53% and a net margin of 10.79%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.76%.

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.