Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Stock Price

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Barclays from $11.00 to $10.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.69% from the stock’s previous close.

VLY has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $10.50 to $11.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY opened at $8.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.48. Valley National Bancorp has a 52-week low of $6.47 and a 52-week high of $11.10.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (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 previous year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Valley National Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,002,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,020,000 after buying an additional 4,204,651 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,663,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,692,000 after acquiring an additional 2,810,005 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,059,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,558,000 after acquiring an additional 8,088,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,821,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,122,000 after acquiring an additional 656,200 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,558,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

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.