StockNews.com Lowers Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) to Sell

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Monday, October 30th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $11.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.56.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VLY traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $8.96. 2,691,053 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,553,385. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.31 and a 200 day moving average of $8.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.39 and a 1-year high of $12.73.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. The firm had revenue of $871.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $471.14 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 18.93% and a return on equity of 9.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.64, for a total value of $864,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 591,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,108,270.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLY. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 153.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,869,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,476,000 after acquiring an additional 5,374,624 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 2,232.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,936,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,836,000 after acquiring an additional 4,725,214 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $47,062,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,116,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,346,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 92.6% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,415,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123,297 shares during the last quarter. 60.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Company Profile

Valley National Bancorp operates as the holding company for Valley National Bank that provides various commercial, retail, insurance, and wealth management financial services products. It operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments. The company offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans.