Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Price Target Cut to $10.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $12.00 to $10.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price target would indicate a potential upside of 25.00% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. TheStreet lowered shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

VLY traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.00. The company had a trading volume of 4,641,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,239,193. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.09. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.39 and a 12-month high of $11.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.89.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.03). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.82% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $449.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $467.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 153.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,869,091 shares of the company's stock worth $115,476,000 after buying an additional 5,374,624 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2,232.2% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,936,902 shares of the company's stock worth $55,836,000 after acquiring an additional 4,725,214 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,734,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 14.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,116,501 shares of the company's stock worth $189,346,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008,420 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 92.6% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,415,523 shares of the company's stock worth $34,220,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123,297 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.