Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $7.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.47.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total transaction of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 495,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VLY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,020,000 after purchasing an additional 4,204,651 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,663,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,692,000 after buying an additional 2,810,005 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,059,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,558,000 after acquiring an additional 8,088,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,821,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,122,000 after acquiring an additional 656,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $74,558,000. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.