Soros Fund Management LLC Buys New Shares in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,180,000. Soros Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.59% of Valley National Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,490,000. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 8,032 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 5,181 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,101,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,829 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 439,831 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VLY. Piper Sandler raised Valley National Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:VLY traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $8.71. 5,721,600 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,110,099. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.10. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $8.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.42. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $479.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $483.98 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. During the same quarter last year, the business 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is 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.