Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,812 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VLY. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 384.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,970,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,276,000 after purchasing an additional 7,118,044 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1,501.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,431,000 after acquiring an additional 5,322,278 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,399,000. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 416.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 852,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,727,000 after acquiring an additional 687,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the third quarter worth $4,374,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on VLY shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valley National Bancorp

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total transaction of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This trade represents a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $9.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.37. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $6.47 and a fifty-two week high of $11.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.77%.

About Valley National Bancorp

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.