Morgan Stanley Upgrades Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) to Equal Weight

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $9.50 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $8.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Valley National Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $8.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of VLY traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $7.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,708,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,041,625. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 1.08. Valley National Bancorp has a 1-year low of $6.47 and a 1-year high of $11.22.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $884.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.67 million. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 6.53%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is 51.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.57, for a total transaction of $65,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at $3,582,285.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Andrew B. Abramson sold 16,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 224,679 shares in the company, valued at $1,734,521.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.57, for a total value of $65,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 545,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,582,285.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 51,451 shares of company stock valued at $378,452. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 121,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 33.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 354,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,000 after acquiring an additional 88,413 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 147.7% in the second quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 9,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 5,560 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 22.6% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 32.3% in the second quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 1,100,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,678,000 after acquiring an additional 268,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.