Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Short Interest Update

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,720,000 shares, a decline of 17.1% from the November 30th total of 31,010,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 416.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 46.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 557.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 7,358 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $9.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.72. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its 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 return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. The business had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted 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. raised Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley upped 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, StockNews.com cut shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

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.