Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $11.52 and last traded at $11.5750, with a volume of 894874 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VLY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, National Bankshares set a $15.00 price target on Valley National Bancorp in a report on Monday, October 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $13.25.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 1.17.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.02. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 14.86%.The firm had revenue of $511.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $511.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VLY. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in Valley National Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 11,831.1% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 5,324 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Valley National Bancorp by 77.4% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 244.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% 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.