Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VLY. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $9.50 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $8.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.68. Valley National Bancorp has a 12 month low of $6.47 and a 12 month high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $884.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.67 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 6.53%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total value of $185,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Valley National Bancorp news, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total value of $127,001.72. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 224,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total transaction of $185,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $74,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,451 shares of company stock worth $378,452 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $81,000. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.