Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Purchases Shares of 2,141,217 Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,141,217 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,399,000. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned 0.42% of Valley National Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VLY. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $169,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $515,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 153.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 461,232 shares of the company's stock worth $4,179,000 after acquiring an additional 279,165 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 687,813 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 52,610 shares of the company's stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VLY. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $9.88.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

VLY traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $10.62. The company had a trading volume of 2,056,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,149,120. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16 and a beta of 1.07. Valley National Bancorp has a twelve month low of $6.47 and a twelve month high of $11.22. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $9.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.34.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 company had revenue of $921.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $467.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is 70.97%.

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.