11,200 Shares in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 11,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 1,371 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 1,521 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 48.2% during 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 during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 6.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 31,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 46.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of VLY stock opened at $9.84 on Thursday. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.28.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 63.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.67.

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.