Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 441,775 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 993,030 shares of the company's stock after selling 441,775 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Valley National Bancorp worth $8,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 25,722,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,537,000 after acquiring an additional 337,416 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Valley National Bancorp by 193.2% during the second 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 last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its stake in Valley National Bancorp by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 1,900,986 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,269,000 after buying an additional 101,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 32.3% during the 2nd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 1,100,066 shares of the company's stock worth $7,678,000 after buying an additional 268,600 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Valley National Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of VLY traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.06. 3,004,845 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,144,164. Valley National Bancorp has a one year low of $6.47 and a one year high of $11.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.24 and a 200-day moving average of $8.17.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays upgraded Valley National Bancorp from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Valley National Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $8.00 to $8.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.88.

Valley National Bancorp 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.