Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Lowers Stock Holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 60.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 333,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 509,732 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.07% of Valley National Bancorp worth $3,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLY. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $69,233,000 after acquiring an additional 6,703,552 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $51,431,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322,278 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 995.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,775,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522,204 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 461.7% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 567,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,960,000 after purchasing an additional 466,303 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1.3% during the second 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. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VLY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.88.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of VLY stock opened at $10.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.28. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced 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 return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. The firm had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.97%.

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.