Valley National Bancorp Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 60,422 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 2,013% compared to the average volume of 2,860 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.25.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ VLY traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.00. 7,274,072 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,552,957. The company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $10.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $7.48 and a twelve month high of $11.35.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $511.08 million during 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%.Valley National Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 14.4% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 973,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,659,000 after acquiring an additional 122,600 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 35.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 361,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,216,000 after purchasing an additional 94,289 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 634.2% in the 1st quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 889,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,905,000 after purchasing an additional 768,088 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,817,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,494,000 after purchasing an additional 204,942 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $15,890,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.