Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Trading Up 5.8% – Still a Buy?

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)’s stock price shot up 5.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $9.69 and last traded at $9.65. 2,712,933 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 5,814,269 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VLY shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.88.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 5.7 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.73 and a 200 day moving average of $7.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.66 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.53% and a net margin of 10.79%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.97%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VLY. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $38,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 416.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.