AXQ Capital LP Makes New $191,000 Investment in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VLY. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 384.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,970,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,276,000 after purchasing an additional 7,118,044 shares during the period. Burkehill Global Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,838,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $19,399,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,327,829 shares during the period. Finally, PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 806.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 906,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,208,000 after acquiring an additional 806,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VLY. Barclays boosted their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valley National Bancorp

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total value of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This trade represents a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VLY opened at $9.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Valley National Bancorp has a 1 year low of $6.47 and a 1 year high of $11.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.60 and a 200-day moving average of $9.50.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted 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 period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.