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

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY – Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 3,000 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 897% compared to the typical daily volume of 301 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.8% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 20,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 123.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 38,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.3% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 68,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,518 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $12.33 on Wednesday. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $9.64 and a 1-year high of $15.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $13.70 and a 200 day moving average of $13.76. The firm has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $560.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.16 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 28th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.27.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Valley National Bancorp

About Valley National Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

Valley National Bancorp is the bank holding company for Valley National Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. Founded in 1927, the company provides banking and related financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

Valley National Bank offers a range of consumer and commercial products, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, consumer loans, mortgages and treasury management services.

Further Reading

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