Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 14.82%. The firm had revenue of $890.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $447.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $7.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,044,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,258,374. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $7.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.81. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.39 and a one year high of $11.22. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.01%. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 46.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VLY. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total value of $406,668.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.88% 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.