Valley National Bancorp Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 11,161 call options on the company. This is an increase of 406% compared to the average volume of 2,204 call options.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of VLY opened at $10.17 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.05.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $515,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 332.7% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 163,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after acquiring an additional 125,695 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 439,831 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 66.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 217,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,969,000 after buying an additional 86,473 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.56.

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.