Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Price Target Cut to $15.50 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan cut Valley National Bancorp’s price target from $17.00 to $15.50 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying 23.85% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $16.19, despite recent target reductions from Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.
• Valley National reported quarterly EPS of $0.30, slightly below the $0.31 consensus, while revenue rose 13.3% year over year to $560.74 million.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $17.00 to $15.50 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.85% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on VLY. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group set a $17.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.19.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:VLY traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $12.52. 3,639,073 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,134,970. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Valley National Bancorp has a 1 year low of $9.64 and a 1 year high of $15.20. The company has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.71.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 9.13%. The firm had revenue of $560.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $557.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,079,026,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 29.5% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,091,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $294,342,000 after acquiring an additional 4,576,448 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,029,085 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,200,000 after acquiring an additional 247,651 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $150,121,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $71,554,000. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp is the bank holding company for Valley National Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. Founded in 1927, the company provides banking and related financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

Valley National Bank offers a range of consumer and commercial products, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, consumer loans, mortgages and treasury management services.

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