Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Stock

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) from $11.00 to $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.93% from its previous close.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with projections for earnings per share at 0.99 for the current fiscal year.
• Institutional investors own 61.00% of Valley National Bancorp, with significant investments seen from firms like AQR Capital Management and Goldman Sachs Group.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $11.00 to $13.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 20.48% from the stock's previous close.

VLY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "hold" rating and a $10.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays restated an "underweight" rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.54.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $10.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,524,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,973,799. The stock's 50-day moving average is $9.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.15. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $7.48 and a 52-week high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 1.13.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.01. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 5.89%. The business had revenue of $495.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $495.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 206.6% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 2,896 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company's stock.

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.