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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

VLY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial started coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler raised Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.60.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $9.16 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $8.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. The business 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, sell-side analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 63.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 10,300 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 18,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 3,585 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 67,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 5,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.