Comerica Bank Purchases 6,155 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 199,705 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $1,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,180,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,788,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011,030 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 531,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,820,000 after purchasing an additional 23,702 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 80.9% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 5,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $2,314,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VLY has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 26th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $8.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.40. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 1.05.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $483.98 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.77%.

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.