Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,070,543 shares of the company's stock after selling 961,332 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 1.00% of Valley National Bancorp worth $45,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 80.9% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 5,079 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,271 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $102,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 26th. 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Valley National Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $11.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VLY traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,571,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,133,569. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.41. 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 cap of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 1.05. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $479.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $483.98 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.99%. Valley National Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.