23,628 Shares in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Bought by Wolverine Asset Management LLC

Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 23,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VLY. Creative Planning grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 63,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 14,794 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 557.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 7,358 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 2,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $131,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VLY shares. 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 report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $9.53 on Monday. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.47 and a one year high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.62 and its 200 day moving average is $9.39. The firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company 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 yield of 4.62%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 63.77%.

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.