Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,600 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,181 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,164,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,170,000 after purchasing an additional 300,385 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 193.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,173,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,233,000 after buying an additional 6,703,552 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 384.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,970,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,276,000 after buying an additional 7,118,044 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,971,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,159,000 after buying an additional 98,574 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,322,278 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $9.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Valley National Bancorp has a 12 month low of $6.47 and a 12 month high of $11.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.99. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 1.12.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 70.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.39.

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.