Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Acquired by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 851,360 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.17% of Valley National Bancorp worth $7,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $103,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $154,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup increased 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 report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.5 %

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $8.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.11. Valley National Bancorp has a 1 year low of $6.47 and a 1 year high of $11.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 63.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at $5,056,492.29. This represents a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp 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.