State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Sells 9,504 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lessened its holdings in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY – Get Rating) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 302,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,504 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $3,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 153.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,869,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,476,000 after acquiring an additional 5,374,624 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 11.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,600,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051,696 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,628,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,805 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% in the third quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 16,826,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,817,000 after purchasing an additional 948,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 20.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,495,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,545,000 after purchasing an additional 928,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.50 to $9.00 in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $15.50 to $14.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Raymond James lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.08.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $6.59 on Friday. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.39 and a 1-year high of $13.07. The company has a 50-day moving average of $8.42 and a 200 day moving average of $10.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $490.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $520.58 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 23.22% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 37.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valley National Bancorp

In other news, Director Marc J. Lenner purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.09 per share, with a total value of $30,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $124,643.40. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Marc J. Lenner acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.09 per share, with a total value of $30,180.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,643.40. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Marc J. Lenner acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.93 per share, with a total value of $54,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 93,670 shares in the company, valued at $1,023,813.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 7,100 shares of company stock valued at $85,929. 1.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Valley National Bancorp Profile

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Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of retail and commercial banking services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Lending, Commercial Lending, Investment Management, and Corporate and Other Adjustments. The Consumer Lending segment consists of residential mortgage loans, automobile loans and home equity loans, as well as wealth management and insurance services.