Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 27,408 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 183% compared to the typical volume of 9,683 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company 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. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $8.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.67.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $406,668.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VLY. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 70,824 shares of the company's stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 37,331 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $1,301,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 107.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,443,543 shares of the company's stock worth $38,037,000 after buying an additional 2,301,128 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $1,623,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 60.9% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 299,963 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,258,000 after purchasing an additional 113,527 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

VLY stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $7.77. 10,703,279 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,248,627. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.07 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.83. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.39 and a 12-month high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $449.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.49 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.66%. Valley National Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.32%.

Valley National Bancorp Company 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.