Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board trimmed its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 57.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,229 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,902 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $31,490,000. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 66,588 shares of the company's stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 8,032 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 5,181 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,101,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,278,000 after buying an additional 1,327,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,539,000 after buying an additional 439,831 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VLY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total transaction of $510,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.43% of the company's stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VLY traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $8.65. 4,315,255 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,099,505. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.44.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is 63.77%.

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.