Van ECK Associates Corp Buys New Shares in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 107,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,172,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 534,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,877,622 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,391,000 after acquiring an additional 309,091 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 289,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,142,000 after acquiring an additional 15,361 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on VLY shares. TheStreet lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.33.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $7.75 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.39 and a twelve month high of $11.22. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $7.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.77.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $890.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.38 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 12.88%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 51.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valley National Bancorp

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.