Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $136,000 Stock Position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 912.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,037 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,552 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,020,000 after buying an additional 4,204,651 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 worth $154,558,000 after purchasing an additional 8,088,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 worth $107,122,000 after purchasing an additional 656,200 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,612,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,966,000 after purchasing an additional 640,933 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,211,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,276,000 after buying an additional 534,846 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VLY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ VLY opened at $8.14 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $8.90 and a 200-day moving average of $9.45.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.41%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 63.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This represents a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company 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.