Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 102,200 Valley National Bancorp $VLY

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 102,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,497,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 5.7% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 43,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 13,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 11,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on VLY. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $16.00 to $16.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $17.50 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.10.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Down 0.2%

Valley National Bancorp stock opened at $13.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.80 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $9.64 and a twelve month high of $15.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.61.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.13% and a net margin of 19.49%.The company had revenue of $560.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $557.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.29%.

Insider Activity at Valley National Bancorp

In related news, CAO Mitchell L. Crandell sold 25,495 shares of Valley National Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.63, for a total transaction of $372,991.85. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,116 shares in the company, valued at $1,113,577.08. This trade represents a 25.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY) is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey, offering a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking products and services. Through its banking subsidiary, Valley National Bank, the company provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, mortgage services, treasury and cash management, foreign exchange and trade finance solutions. Complementary wealth management and insurance offerings round out its financial services platform, catering to individual, small-business and corporate clients.

Tracing its roots to the establishment of Wayne National Bank in 1927, Valley has grown into one of the largest banks in New Jersey by both assets and deposit share.