** Shares of Valley National Bancorp rise ~3% to $10.25 in premarket trading
** J.P. Morgan upgrades stock to "overweight" from "neutral", bumps up price target by 50 cents to $11
** Brokerage "encouraged" by the progress VLY has made on reducing its commercial real estate $(CRE.UK)$ loan concentration
** Also lauds VLY's decision to raise up to $400 mln via a stock sale
** However, there is "still work to be done in 2025 in terms of further reducing the company's CRE concentration", J.P. Morgan adds
** Four of 11 brokerages rate VLY "buy" or higher while the rest "hold"; median PT is $10.50 - data compiled by LSEG
** Stock down 8.3% YTD, as of last close
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru)
((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com))
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