Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,970,000 shares, a decline of 16.3% from the March 31st total of 33,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 5.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 2.2 %

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $8.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.42. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.47 and a 52-week high of $11.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.98 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLY. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 206.6% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,896 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 80.9% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 5,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,271 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

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.