Sapient Capital LLC Buys Shares of 11,200 Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $103,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 384.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,970,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,276,000 after acquiring an additional 7,118,044 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1,501.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,431,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322,278 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,399,000. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 416.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 852,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,727,000 after purchasing an additional 687,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,374,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.50 price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of Valley National Bancorp 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 approximately $5,056,492.29. The trade was a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of VLY stock opened at $9.84 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $9.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.28. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.47 and a one year high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.02). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.62%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

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.