Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $9 Million Stock Holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 30.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 993,030 shares of the company’s stock after selling 441,775 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $8,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 7.6% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,154 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY stock opened at $9.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71 and a beta of 1.09. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.87 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.65 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.82%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on VLY shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on 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 raised their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

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.