VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $1.53 Million in Valley National Bancorp $VLY

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 171,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VLY. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 101.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,218,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,308,000 after buying an additional 5,147,786 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 10,214,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,810,000 after buying an additional 3,091,169 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth $15,890,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 55.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,802,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,694,000 after buying an additional 1,708,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 30,040,885 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,054,000 after buying an additional 1,377,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VLY. Barclays reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.68.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of VLY opened at $10.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.47. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $7.48 and a twelve month high of $11.16.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $495.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $495.79 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 5.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.41%.

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.