Versor Investments LP Purchases Shares of 98,800 Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 98,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $895,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 96,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 806.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 906,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,208,000 after purchasing an additional 806,000 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 216,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,959,000 after purchasing an additional 19,648 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,101,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $293,000. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at $5,056,492.29. This represents a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $9.59 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.41. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.59%. 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.