Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 7,118,044 Shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Free Report) by 384.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,970,862 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,118,044 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.76% of Valley National Bancorp worth $81,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Valley National Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $229,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 11.1% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 14,317 shares of the company's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 1.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 256,797 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,792,000 after buying an additional 3,035 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 5.6% in the second 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 period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Valley National Bancorp by 113.1% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 15,004 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Valley National Bancorp in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Valley National Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $10.50 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Valley National Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.00.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Up 0.1 %

VLY stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.38. 5,330,665 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,108,765. 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's fifty day moving average price is $9.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.48. Valley National Bancorp has a 52 week low of $6.47 and a 52 week high of $11.22. The company has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18. The business had revenue of $921.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $467.87 million. Valley National Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 9.42%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.65 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. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Valley National Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 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.