Swiss National Bank Sells 11,000 Shares of Valley National Bancorp $VLY

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 962,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of Valley National Bancorp worth $8,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Valley National Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 11,831.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 5,324 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $95,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VLY. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $13.50 in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ VLY opened at $11.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 1.17. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $7.48 and a 52 week high of $11.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $10.75 and a 200-day moving average of $9.95.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $511.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $511.47 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 14.86%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 50.00%.

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.