Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY)

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 27,408 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 183% compared to the average volume of 9,683 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VLY shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Valley National Bancorp from $11.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut Valley National Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Valley National Bancorp from $12.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Valley National Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.67.

Insider Transactions at Valley National Bancorp

In related news, EVP Joseph Chillura sold 49,715 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.18, for a total transaction of $406,668.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 545,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,460,136.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valley National Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VLY. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Valley National Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Institutional investors own 61.00% of the company’s stock.

Valley National Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VLY traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $7.67. The stock had a trading volume of 4,634,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,169,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.83. Valley National Bancorp has a 12-month low of $6.39 and a 12-month high of $11.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.25 and a beta of 1.09.

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). Valley National Bancorp had a net margin of 14.82% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $449.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $467.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Valley National Bancorp will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valley National Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Valley National Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.32%.

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.