Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Short Interest Up 924,714.8% in July

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 24,970,000 shares, anincreaseof924,714.8% from the June 30th total of 2,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 9,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Based on an average trading volume of 9,280,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 30,040,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,377,676 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,059,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,558,000 after buying an additional 8,088,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,821,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,122,000 after buying an additional 656,200 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 101.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,218,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,308,000 after acquiring an additional 5,147,786 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 43.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,214,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,091,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Truist Financial raised Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley raised Valley National Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.95.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $9.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Valley National Bancorp has a 1 year low of $7.18 and a 1 year high of $11.10. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $9.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.13.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $495.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.79 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.89% and a net margin of 12.87%. Valley National Bancorp’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 EPS. 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.41%.

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.