Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 14.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,124 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,564 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $1,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 68,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 113,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 48.1% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 253,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,257,000 after acquiring an additional 82,425 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 444,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,952,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VLY. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.73.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of VLY stock opened at $9.51 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $7.18 and a fifty-two week high of $11.10. The stock has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.98 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 5.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 63.77%.

Valley National Bancorp 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.