First Trust Advisors LP Sells 323,960 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,108,485 shares of the company's stock after selling 323,960 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.22% of Valley National Bancorp worth $10,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VLY. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,527 shares of the company's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 44,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 28,702 shares of the company's stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 1,029 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 48,118 shares of the company's stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VLY shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $11.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of VLY traded up $0.19 on Friday, hitting $8.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,332,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,136,088. The company has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.06. Valley National Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $6.47 and a fifty-two week high of $11.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. The business had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 63.77%.

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.