Peak6 LLC Takes Position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Peak6 LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 80,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $154,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 170.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 67,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 42,731 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,539,000 after buying an additional 439,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 5,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on VLY shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $8.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $8.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.45. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $6.47 and a fifty-two week high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 EPS 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.33%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This trade represents a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.43% of the company’s stock.

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.