Retirement Systems of Alabama Raises Stock Position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 577,295 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,684 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.11% of Valley National Bancorp worth $5,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% in 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. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 557.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 8,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 7,358 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VLY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

VLY opened at $10.17 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.70 and its 200 day moving average is $9.26. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted 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 return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 63.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at $5,056,492.29. This trade represents a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.