Financial Contrast: Valley National Bancorp (VLY) and The Competition

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) is one of 919 public companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Valley National Bancorp to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Valley National Bancorp and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valley National Bancorp	0	4	10	1	2.80
Valley National Bancorp Competitors	7497	30259	27867	1491	2.35

Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $16.86, indicating a potential upside of 17.59%. As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 14.67%. Given Valley National Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Valley National Bancorp is more favorable than its peers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.0% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Valley National Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Valley National Bancorp has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valley National Bancorp’s peers have a beta of 0.61, meaning that their average stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Valley National Bancorp and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valley National Bancorp	20.44%	9.63%	1.10%
Valley National Bancorp Competitors	15.62%	9.43%	0.93%

Dividends

Valley National Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Valley National Bancorp pays out 34.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.9% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Valley National Bancorp lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Valley National Bancorp and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valley National Bancorp	$3.49 billion	$597.98 million	11.38
Valley National Bancorp Competitors	$9.95 billion	$2.42 billion	21.13

Valley National Bancorp’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Valley National Bancorp. Valley National Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Valley National Bancorp beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Valley National Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include deposit accounts, commercial and residential lending, consumer loans, cash management and other business banking services, as well as wealth management and insurance services. Founded in 1927, Valley is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey. Its banking network serves customers in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama and California, with services also available through digital channels.