Rafferty Asset Management LLC Purchases 127,740 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,211,490 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,740 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $10,976,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,020,000 after purchasing an additional 4,204,651 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,663,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,692,000 after purchasing an additional 2,810,005 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $154,558,000 after purchasing an additional 8,088,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,821,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,122,000 after purchasing an additional 656,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $74,558,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $9.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $8.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.05. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $483.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLY has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.60.

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.