Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) Shares Bought by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 538,071 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 82,976 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Valley National Bancorp worth $4,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Valley National Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,490,000. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 66,588 shares of the company's stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 8,032 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,600 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 5,181 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,101,280 shares of the company's stock worth $55,278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 41.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,494,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,539,000 after buying an additional 439,831 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 50,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 495,249 shares in the company, valued at $5,056,492.29. This represents a 9.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VLY shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded Valley National Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Barclays cut their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $12.50 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.67.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of VLY stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $8.68. 4,385,620 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,105,885. The business's fifty day moving average is $8.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.06. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.47 and a 12-month high of $11.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.01). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 5.14%. The company had revenue of $479.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $483.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.07%. Valley National Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.77%.

Valley National Bancorp Company Profile

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.