Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.88.

Several equities analysts recently commented on VLY shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.8 %

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $10.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.28. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $6.47 and a fifty-two week high of $11.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The firm had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.87 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 14,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 46.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.