The financial services sector includes nineteen industries all related to managing money: asset management; banks either global or from any of seven regions, capital markets, credit services, financial exchanges, insurance in six specializations, savings banks, and specialty finance.

Today I'm reviewing a mid-cap US regional bank

It's name is Valley National Bancorp

It's trading ticker symbol is VLY.  

Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company. It offers commercial, retail, insurance and wealth management financial services products. It also offers automated teller machines, telephone and internet banking services.

The company operates through Commercial Lending, Consumer Lending, and Investment Management segments.

As of December 31, 2017, the company operated 237 branches in northern and central New Jersey; the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island; and southeast and central Florida. 

Valley National Bancorp was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like Valley National Bancorp: 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

After those three, four more keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest. 

No matter what, it's the first three primary traits that best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money.

VLY Price

Valley's price was $12.90 per share at yesterday's market close. A year ago its price was $11.57 for a gain of $1.33 per share in the past year.  

Assuming Valley's price will continue to trade in the range of $10.00 to $14.00 next year, its price could grow another $1.33 from $12.90 to $14.23 by June 21, 2019. 

VLY Dividends

Valley's most recently declared quarterly dividend was $0.11 per share payable July 3. That $0.11 quarterly dividend equates to an estimated annual payout of $0.44 per share for 2018-19 which yields 3.4% at yesterday's $12.90 closing stock price.  

Gains For VLY?

Valleys $1.33 estimated year over year price gain plus an anticipated dividend of  $0.44 makes a projected gross annual gain of $1.77 per share, which will be reduced by the costs to trade those shares.  

A little over $1,000.00 invested today at the $12.90 price buys 78 shares. 

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale subtracts $0.13 per share.

Taking that $0.13 brokerage cost out of the estimated $1.77 gross gain per share leaves a net gain of $1.64 X 78 shares 

= $127.92

or a 12.7% potential net gain on a $1,006.20 investment.

Therefore, Valley National Bancorp   (whose ticker symbol is VLY), now shows a possible 12.7% net gain including a 3.4% dividend yield. 

Eleven analysts cover this stock:

Two say "buy" VLY.

Four say VLY will "outperform" peers

Five say "hold' VLY shares.

Their eleven analyst consensus recommendation is 2.27 or "outperform" and their price target is  $14.30 or $0.07 over my $14.23 year over year target.

Y Charts rates VLY "neutral" for an overall "Y" rating. Y Charts also shows "good" for a Value score of 8 out of ten points. And YCharts ranks VLY "average" with 6 out of 10  possible Fundamental points. Y Charts Historic Valuation score for ORI is 13.52% overvalued at a $11.36 historic valuation.

You could look at all those numbers like this:  Valley National Bancorp has made money, is making money, and could net a 12% to 13% net gain next year including a 3.4% annual dividend yield paid out quarterly. It could be more, it could be less.

The above speculation is conjecture based on past year performance. Actual results remain to be seen. They could turn out to be far higher or lower. More study is required for you to determine if Valley National Bancorp is worth your time and money.