Verition Fund Management LLC Buys 687,813 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 416.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 852,884 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 687,813 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $7,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $281,000. Fourthstone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $1,124,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $543,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 103,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 12,669 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $10.64 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.57 and a 200-day moving average of $8.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16 and a beta of 1.07. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VLY shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upgraded Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has 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 data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.88.

Valley National Bancorp 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.