Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Buys 10,567 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,857 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,567 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Valley National Bancorp were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $515,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,101,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327,829 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,539,000 after acquiring an additional 439,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,612,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,966,000 after purchasing an additional 640,933 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Valley National Bancorp

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.21, for a total transaction of $510,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of VLY stock opened at $9.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.47 and a one year high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 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 earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 63.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.78.

Valley National Bancorp 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.