Traders Buy Large Volume of Valley National Bancorp Call Options (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 100,330 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,687% compared to the average volume of 3,600 call options.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Down 0.1%

VLY stock opened at $11.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $7.48 and a 1-year high of $12.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.20. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 1.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.86% and a return on equity of 6.67%. The firm had revenue of $511.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $15,890,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 35.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 361,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,216,000 after buying an additional 94,289 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 211.5% in the 1st quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 93,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 63,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $592,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on VLY. Jefferies Financial Group raised Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. National Bankshares set a $14.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.37.

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.