Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases Shares of 107,881 Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 107,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,172,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 107.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,443,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,037,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,128 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,025,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,499,000 after buying an additional 920,140 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,366,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 220.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 569,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after buying an additional 392,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,427,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $388,856,000 after buying an additional 356,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

VLY stock opened at $7.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $7.68 and a 200-day moving average of $8.77. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.39 and a 12-month high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $890.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $447.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.68%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Valley National Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp 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.