Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VLY. Citigroup upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $13.50 in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $12.50 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.54.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY opened at $10.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.21 and a 200 day moving average of $9.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $7.48 and a fifty-two week high of $11.14.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $495.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.79 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 5.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect 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 Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 56.41%.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VLY. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 101.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,218,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,308,000 after purchasing an additional 5,147,786 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,286,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,276,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 43.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,214,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,091,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $15,890,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.