Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 5,322,278 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 1,501.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,676,685 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,322,278 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $51,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 416.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 5,001 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY stock opened at $10.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.10. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35 and a beta of 1.07. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.47 and a 52-week high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. The company had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 70.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VLY. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Valley National Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.88.

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.