Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $12.50 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.44.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 1.4 %

VLY stock opened at $8.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 1.09. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.47 and a 52-week high of $11.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.76.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The company had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.87 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Financial LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $136,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 22.6% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 2,529 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 147.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 5,560 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 354,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,000 after purchasing an additional 88,413 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 121,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $845,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.