Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 42,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $460,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VLY. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 986.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 19,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 17,995 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $137,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 153,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 44,385 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 60.9% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 299,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,258,000 after purchasing an additional 113,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,569 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush cut their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY opened at $7.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick 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 $11.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.84. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.03). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.82% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $449.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.32%.

Valley National Bancorp 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.