Valley National Bancorp’s (VLY) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $10.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Valley National Bancorp’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.17 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $0.66 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.25 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.10 EPS.

VLY has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valley National Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.63.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VLY opened at $9.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.89. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.79% and a return on equity of 6.53%. The firm had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 51.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Valley National Bancorp by 193.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,173,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,233,000 after acquiring an additional 6,703,552 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 995.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,775,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522,204 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $6,618,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 378.4% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 612,314 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 484,332 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Valley National Bancorp by 461.7% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 567,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,960,000 after buying an additional 466,303 shares during the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.