Royal Bank of Canada Trims Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Target Price to $8.00

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) had its price target reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $9.00 to $8.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VLY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $8.00 target price (down from $12.00) on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a neutral rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $8.44.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $7.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $7.11 and its 200 day moving average is $8.14. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $890.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $447.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.88%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total value of $185,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 25,000 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.43, for a total value of $185,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total transaction of $127,001.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 224,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,734,521.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,451 shares of company stock worth $378,452. 1.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 62,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,000 after buying an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 535,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 38,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 104,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 122,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.