First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 165,500 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 712,800 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 165,500 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Valley National Bancorp worth $4,975,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 21.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 231,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 40,121 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 61.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 52,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,091 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,174,000. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 92.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 635,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 304,962 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 25,722,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,537,000 after purchasing an additional 337,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 3.0 %

VLY stock opened at $9.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 1.08. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $8.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.07). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 6.53%. The firm had revenue of $884.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.86%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 51.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VLY shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $8.00 to $9.50 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.31.

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.