Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 441,775 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 993,030 shares of the company’s stock after selling 441,775 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Valley National Bancorp worth $8,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 74.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 248,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 106,290 shares during the last quarter. Waterfall Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $1,693,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 34.2% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 156,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after acquiring an additional 39,750 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 33.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 354,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 88,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 32.3% in the second quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 1,100,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,678,000 after acquiring an additional 268,600 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $10.23 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.17. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The company had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.87 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VLY. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.88.

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.