Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Purchases New Position in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 43,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VLY. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $69,233,000 after purchasing an additional 6,703,552 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 1,501.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,676,685 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,431,000 after purchasing an additional 5,322,278 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 995.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,775,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522,204 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised 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 worth $3,960,000 after purchasing an additional 466,303 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Valley National Bancorp by 103.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 843,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,887,000 after purchasing an additional 428,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VLY opened at $10.68 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.07. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.51 and a 200 day moving average of $8.30.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VLY. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays raised shares of Valley National Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Valley National Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.88.

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.