Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Price Target to $8.50

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $8.00 to $8.50 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 5.33% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.50.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $8.07 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $7.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.07). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 7.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Valley National Bancorp

In other news, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total value of $127,001.72. Following the transaction, the director now owns 224,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.57, for a total transaction of $65,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,582,285.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total transaction of $127,001.72. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 224,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,451 shares of company stock valued at $378,452 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,734,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,889,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,800 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,060,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,378,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,815 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $6,618,000. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $6,366,000. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.