Soros Fund Management LLC Makes New Investment in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,180,000. Soros Fund Management LLC owned 0.59% of Valley National Bancorp as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,020,000 after acquiring an additional 4,204,651 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,663,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,692,000 after buying an additional 2,810,005 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,059,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,558,000 after buying an additional 8,088,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,821,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,122,000 after buying an additional 656,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,612,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,966,000 after buying an additional 640,933 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.50 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of VLY stock opened at $8.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $8.76 and a 200-day moving average of $9.44. 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.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.10%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Valley National Bancorp news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,056,492.29. This represents a 9.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.