Sifting through countless of stocks in the Banks industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Valley National Bancorp because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp

Hilltop Holdings Inc. provides business and consumer banking services. The company operates through three segments: Banking, Broker-Dealer, and Mortgage Origination. The Banking segment offers savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, and money market accounts; certificates of deposit; lines and letters of credit, home improvement and equity loans, loans for purchasing and carrying securities, term, agricultural and commercial real estate, equipment loans, and other lending products; and mortgage, commercial and industrial loans, and term and construction finance. It provides treasury management, asset management, check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, and overdraft privilege services; and estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, employee benefit accounts, and individual retirement accounts services, as well as automated teller machines. The Broker-Dealer segment offers public finance services that assist public entities in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions; specialized advisory and investment banking services; advice and guidance to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration; advisory services and products for derivatives and commodities; agricultural insurance; and sells, trades in, and underwrites U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, and municipal bonds; mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities and structured products; and provides asset and liability management advisory, clearing, retail, and securities lending services. The Mortgage Origination segment offers fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, jumbo, new construction, Federal Housing Administration, Veterans Affairs, and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Hilltop Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

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. The company operates through Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, and Treasury and Corporate other segments. It offers non-interest bearing, savings, NOW, money market, and time deposit accounts; commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, construction, residential mortgage, and automobile loans; loans secured by the cash surrender value of life insurance; home equity loans and lines of credit; automobile financing; and secured and unsecured other consumer loans. The company also invests in various securities and interest-bearing deposits with other banks; and provides international banking services. In addition, it offers investment services for individuals and small to medium sized businesses; and trusts investment strategies designed for various investment profiles and objectives. Further, the company provides trust services, such as living and testamentary trusts, investment management, custodial and escrow services, and estate administration to individuals; tax credit advisory services; brokerage services; property and casualty, life, health, and title insurance agency services; and health care equipment lending and other commercial equipment leasing services, as well as private banking and management services. Additionally, it offers niche financial services, including loan and deposit products for homeowners associations, cannabis-related business banking, and venture banking; online, mobile, and telephone banking services; credit cards; and automated teller machine services. Valley National Bancorp was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.

Latest Banks and Hilltop Holdings Inc., Valley National Bancorp Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Hilltop Holdings Inc. had a $2.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Banks median of $750.0 million. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s stock is up 14.6% in 2026, up 0.9% in the previous five trading days and up 10.34% in the past year.

Currently, Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 14.3. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 12.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.407 per share for the current fiscal year. Hilltop Holdings Inc. currently has a 2.3% dividend yield.

As of September 2, 2026, Valley National Bancorp had a $7.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 73rd percentile of all stocks. Valley National Bancorp’s stock is up 18.8% in 2026, down 0.5% in the previous five trading days and up 32.66% in the past year.

Currently, Valley National Bancorp’s price-earnings ratio is 11.7. Valley National Bancorp’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.0 billion with a 34.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 15.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.279 per share for the current fiscal year. Valley National Bancorp currently has a 3.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	A
Valley National Bancorp	VLY	B

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Value Score of 88, which is Deep Value. Valley National Bancorp has a Value Score of 66, which is Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Hilltop Holdings Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Hilltop Holdings Inc. is considered to have better value than Valley National Bancorp. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Hilltop Holdings Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	F
Valley National Bancorp	VLY	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Growth Score of 8, which is Very Weak. Valley National Bancorp has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Valley National Bancorp

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Valley National Bancorp has a more attractive growth grade than Hilltop Holdings Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Valley National Bancorp could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Hilltop Holdings Inc.	HTH	C
Valley National Bancorp	VLY	C

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. has a Momentum Score of 48, which is Average. Valley National Bancorp has a Momentum Score of 59, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Valley National Bancorp has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Valley National Bancorp is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp Grades

In addition to Momentum, Value and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Estimate Revisions and Quality.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Hilltop Holdings Inc. or Valley National Bancorp Stock?

Overall, Hilltop Holdings Inc. stock has a Value Score of 88, Growth Score of 8 and Momentum Score of 48.

Valley National Bancorp stock has a Value Score of 66, Growth Score of 95 and Momentum Score of 59.

Comparing Hilltop Holdings Inc. and Valley National Bancorp’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.