Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Upgraded at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $11.00 target price on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.78.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of VLY opened at $9.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.50. The stock has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 1.11. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total transaction of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $74,558,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,059,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,558,000 after buying an additional 8,088,466 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,020,000 after buying an additional 4,204,651 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,490,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,180,000. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.